Crosswalk Church Crosswalk Church is a Seventh-day Adventist, Jesus-centered community growing and learning together. https://crosswalkvillage.com Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 hourly 1 3600 SnapPages.com Perspective: Wk3 - WED https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/09/perspective-wk3-wed Wed, 09 Sep 2026 01:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/09/perspective-wk3-wed

Wednesday: Empathy
Genesis 40:4-7
After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.

When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?”

We are left to imagine how much time has passed between each event so far in Joseph’s life: from freedom to slavery, from success in Potiphar’s house to accusation and imprisonment, from the general prison population to manager, and even the introduction of these two royal courtiers in Genesis 40 verse seven, “After they had been in custody for some time.” However, we do know that this whole span of time was approximately eleven years.

Has Joseph known the cupbearer and the baker for a few days, months, or years? We don’t know. But at this point in the story, it is worth pausing to notice an interesting detail that may shed light on how God was able to use Joseph so successfully.

The fact that each man had separately been shown a meaningful dream the same night is notable. Joseph’s willingness to interpret them and the way he delivered the news will be important. But we will look at that tomorrow. For now, notice the conclusion of verse six, “… he saw that they were dejected.”

Over time, Joseph’s heart has softened from the teenage brashness that allowed the pain and distance he had caused in his own family to go unnoticed. He has developed a deep empathy for those around him, so he immediately sees the stress and discomfort on the faces of the two he has been tasked to serve. Rather than dismiss it as none of his business, he seeks to serve more deeply than simply bringing food or washing prison clothes. Joseph reaches out to ease the emotional hardship in their lives. “Why are your faces so sad today?” Joseph asks.

There is incredible power in entering into the pain and frustration of others. Joseph’s influence over these two men shifts as he asks the question and begins to feel what they feel. Though it won’t be obvious for another couple of years, God’s rescue of Joseph from prison hinges on his willingness to draw close, ask vulnerable questions, and practice the kind of empathy required of friendship rather than servitude.

Joseph could have excused himself from helping, considering the men above him by the privileges of the court, or beneath him in ethnicity. He could have decided they were too different from one another to help. But by leaning into the empathy God has grown in his heart, he unlocks the future God has intended for him. Amazing the impact of one little question born of empathy.

  1. Think of two or three of your closest friends. In what ways are you most different from one another? Why do you think you are friends despite these differences?
  2. When you notice an emotional change in a friend, how easy is it for you to bring it up in conversation? Why do you think that is?
  3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how naturally empathetic are you? Would you like to become more empathetic? What would you like to say to Jesus about that?

Written by Pastor Dave Ferguson

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]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/09/perspective-wk3-wed#comments 0 Perspective: Wk3 - TUE https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/08/perspective-wk3-tue Tue, 08 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/08/perspective-wk3-tue
Position
Genesis 40:1-4
Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.

I find it fascinating how time and place shift our sense of who is important. I served as a chaplain to high schoolers for nine years and then as a professor with undergraduate students for another eight. Those back-to-back experiences allowed me to observe the frequent shift in students’ lives from “big man on campus” to obscurity, or the awkward, unnoticed young lady to the college beauty. If we decide who is important too early, we are often wrong.

Then, there is the dynamic of location or subject matter. It is always interesting to watch a person with the kind of expertise that garners respect and deference step into a conversation in which they are ignorant and unknown. They may arrogantly expect to be treated with reverence based on their position in the economy of their field, only to be brutalized by dismissal, finding others uninterested in their point of view.

Possibly the most vivid gap between perceived and actual importance stems from position. Our story includes a cupbearer and a baker, two individuals who, at a quick glance, may seem to serve in menial positions. But these are not kitchen help. They serve Pharaoh as ministers in high-level governmental positions requiring absolute trust and security clearance. They have constant access to the supreme monarch of Egypt. These elite ministers of the court were capable of influencing royal safety and state affairs. However, importance based on position is always fleeting and temporary.

Our story follows two high-ranking officers as they are stripped of their positions and thrown into prison. No longer do they have influence based on their business cards. Their power is gone.

Compare the influence of the cupbearer and the baker with that of Joseph. Even here, in the depths of imprisonment, Joseph is their inferior. He must “attend to them.” Yet it is Joseph who interprets their dreams, Joseph who influences the throne, Joseph whose name is remembered. As it turns out, position is not required to affect this story, change your workplace, or impact our community. While certain positions can be useful, God simply needs our diligence, perseverance, and an attitude of hopefulness.

Today, whether you were the last one hired or your name is on the door, if you have never been called a leader or if most people look to you, may you accept the opportunity to partner with Jesus. May you experience the impact that transcends positional power and watch God move.

  1. What were you like in high school: popular or unpopular, a “big person on campus” or unnoticed?
  2. What are the settings in which you have positional power? Do you find it easy or hard to govern the additional power you experience? Why is that so?
  3. In what circumstances do you wish you had more ability to influence things? How do you envision God could use you in that environment without relying on the power of position?

Written by Pastor Dave Ferguson

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]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/08/perspective-wk3-tue#comments 0 Perspective: Wk3 - MON https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/07/perspective-wk3-mon Mon, 07 Sep 2026 02:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/07/perspective-wk3-mon
Freedom
Genesis 39:20-23
Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Like fingernails on a chalkboard, the writer of Genesis drops the line, “Yahweh gave Joseph success in whatever he did.” It takes an unusual perspective to stir the ingredients of slavery, false accusation, and a life sentence and call it victory. This raises a question. Is it possible that the evidence of the outer world gives very little clue to what is happening in the inner world?

Galatians 5 tells us that when the Holy Spirit inhabits our lives, whatever else is going on around us, we begin to experience the growth of specific benefits. “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23) Notice that while the impact of this fruit can often be witnessed from a distance, it grows from deep inside. For instance, love makes an impact on our relationships, yet it grows in the secret of our inner world. No one can force you to love. You have to choose to allow it to grow. These fruits germinate from an attitude of willingness, an openness to orient oneself to an internal compass unaffected by things like false accusation or imprisonment.

Adopting an attitude of joy, peace, and gratitude when things are falling apart around us is truly remarkable. But make no mistake, it is a real option for your life, no matter what is happening to you. Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl wrote, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." Notably, he wrote this after losing his parents, his brother, and his wife in the Nazi concentration camps.

Perhaps the greatest miracle of God's presence is His power to fill us with hope when things look hopeless, love amid abuse, peace in troubled times, and joy in all circumstances. Now that is success.

  1. What is your favorite fruit? What do you like most about it?
  2. Which of the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23 do you find most elusive, most difficult to attain?
  3. What is currently threatening your joy? What would you like to say to Jesus about that?

Written by Pastor Dave Ferguson

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]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/07/perspective-wk3-mon#comments 0 Perspective: Wk2 - GROUP GUIDE https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/05/perspective-wk2-group-guide Sat, 05 Sep 2026 01:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/05/perspective-wk2-group-guide
INTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.

OPEN:  If you are willing to share, was there ever a crucible moment in your life, a difficulty that you endured, that ultimately helped shape you into an even better version of yourself?

SCRIPTURE READING
Read together:  Genesis 39:1-23, 1 Corinthians 6:18

While an outsider may have looked at Joseph’s life and thought God had abandoned him, we come to find out that the opposite is true.

HEAD: Explore the Text
  1. Share any wisdom, insights, or thoughts you received just from listening to the text, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead.
  2. What do you think happened to Joseph between the time he was sold by his brothers, to the time where he is put in charge of Potiphar’s house? What changed in his own character development?
  3. How do you think Joseph is able to keep from sinning by going to bed with Potiphar’s wife, especially with the day after day after day temptation? Do you think it was always easy for him to say no?
  4. Joseph loses his position and gets put in prison for something he didn’t do. How would that make you feel? What’s different in Joseph in this part of the story, versus when his brothers sold him into slavery?
  5. What choices do you think Joseph has to continue to make in order to keep being a blessing no matter his circumstances?
  6. Why do you think Paul was so strong with his words in 1 Corinthians 6:18?

HEART: Personal Reflection
  1. What can we learn from Joseph’s story about our own negative circumstances and God’s involvement in our lives during those times? 
  2. One can certainly say that Joseph chose to make the best out of a bad situation. How does that choice witness to others about your own character, but also, your faith and trust in God?
  3. When temptation comes our way, how are we to resist? Share what has helped you, as well as what to do when you give in and fail.
  4. How do you and I stay grounded in who God is, in bad circumstances, when tempted, and when the world tells us to give up?

HANDS: Practice This Week
Spiritual Practice: Repentance
  • This week, find some time to listen to and meditate on the words of Matt Maher’s song, “Lord I need you.”
  • List the spaces in your life, right now, where you need God’s grace to be more.
  • In prayer, fall on Jesus and let Him hold you in His arms of love and grace as He offers you His robe of righteousness to wear, showing you belong to Him now and always.

Invite the group to check in next week about their experience.

FINISH WELL: Bring It Home
  • What is an area in your life right now that is a weakness, an area that you need God’s help with most?
  • Practice surrendering, three times a day, that part of your life to God in His good grace.

WORDS TO REMEMBER
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (I John 1:9, NLT)

Written by Pastor Paddy McCoy

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]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/05/perspective-wk2-group-guide#comments 0 Perspective: Wk2 - FRI https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/04/perspective-wk2-fri Fri, 04 Sep 2026 02:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/04/perspective-wk2-fri
Conviction
Genesis 39:19-23
When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

The accusation has been made, and the master of the house is furious. Yet the supervisor of palace executions responds to his wife’s allegations of rape by placing the alleged perpetrator in the royal prison. That seems mild. Is his response evidence that Potiphar believes Joseph over his wife? But he cannot let this go unpunished. Prison time it is.

Once again, whether this is good or bad news is all a matter of perspective. Slavery was a sudden, horrific shock to Joseph. But he applies himself, gains favor, and becomes indispensable to his master. Good fortune, right? Ah, now he is in the path of a selfish deviant willing to frame him with the worst kind of lies, resulting in a life sentence. Catastrophe, no? Except Joseph is now positioned to serve his cellmates, listen to their dreams, and build the network that will bring about the fulfillment of God’s prophecies for his life and the redemption of his family. Crazy.

We often struggle to keep an accurate score of what is happening in our lives. Some of our greatest disappointments become the path to moments we treasure. Other times, we claim a win before realizing the hidden cost of our circumstances. Like seeing around the corner of a building, we have to walk the full block before our vision clears.

Once again, the ever-developing theme of Joseph’s life reappears. “The Lord was with Joseph.” And again, he is unwaveringly conscientious, diligent, and an influential leader. “The Lord gave him success in everything he did.” Perspective.

  1. Think of a time you were punished as a child. How were you punished? What was it for? Did you deserve the punishment?
  2. Isaiah 53:5 says that Jesus was pierced for our transgressions and that His punishment brings us peace. How do you respond to Him after He has done this? Consider writing a prayer that includes your thanksgiving.

Written by Pastor Dave Ferguson

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Sep 7, 2026
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]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/04/perspective-wk2-fri#comments 0 Perspective: Wk2 - THU https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/03/perspective-wk2-thu Thu, 03 Sep 2026 02:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/03/perspective-wk2-thu
Accusation
Genesis 39:11-18
One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
Persistence allows temptation to escalate. Whether Joseph has dropped his guard a little or Potiphar’s wife has orchestrated the servants’ absence, the effect is the same. Our handsome hero stands vulnerable to the woman of the house.

However playful her advances had originally been, our story now drips with entrapment, coercion, and force. She grabs Joseph and hangs on as he sprints from the house, wearing at least one fewer garment than he started with. He has put to full use the instruction Paul gives in 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee from sexual immorality.” Good advice. If your internet browsing, a coworker’s flirting, or an overt invitation nears the threshold of your sexual morality, run. Don’t pause to argue; remove yourself immediately.

What happens next is another lesson in the realities of this sinful world. Just because Joseph resists evil doesn’t mean he's immune to attack or slander. He has repeatedly done the right thing by his boss and by his faith. Nevertheless, he is about to pay a steep price for his fortitude.

Potiphar’s wife soaks in the simmering broth of rejection. By the time her husband comes home, she has concocted a story, gathered the closest thing she can find to witnesses, and sits with exhibit A on her lap. How is it that Joseph keeps getting into trouble over his coat?

Shoving Joseph’s outer garment in her husband’s face, this woman reenacts her false accusation, setting in motion the next round of the young Hebrew’s troubles. Each difficulty is worse than the last. And just when things seem to improve, calamity descends. Hopefully, God’s presence was able to convey the sentiment Peter would later express:

“For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God… if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.” (1 Peter 2:19-20)

  1. If you are watching a sporting event, either live or on television, and an official makes the wrong call, how do you react?
  2. Was there a time when you were punished for doing the right thing? When? Why do you think it turned out that way?
  3. Have you ever resented God for unfairness? When did that happen, and what would you like to say to Him about it?

Written by Pastor Dave Ferguson

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Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/03/perspective-wk2-thu#comments 0 Perspective: Wk2 - WED https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/02/perspective-wk2-wed Wed, 02 Sep 2026 17:16:16 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/02/perspective-wk2-wed
Seduction
Genesis 39:6b-10
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

You might wish you were wealthier, more talented, more handsome, or more beautiful. But those things always carry the cost of greater exposure to temptation. Joseph was a charismatic, natural leader. He was the kind of handsome that turned heads when he entered the room. So it wasn’t long before the problems with Potiphar’s wife began.

We have no idea whether this woman is in a loveless marriage, has a history of loose behavior, or simply holds a different moral worldview from Joseph. Whichever is the case, she has set her sights on the bright, athletic Hebrew servant. And she acts on it, “Come to bed with me!” (v6)

There are probably many things so extreme they present no real temptation to you. You wouldn’t say yes to killing your irritating coworker. But you might happily make them the butt of an office-wide joke. Robbing a bank isn’t likely to tempt you. But fudging your taxes, well… that’s another story. So when this woman brazenly invites Joseph to fornicate with her, it’s an immediate, pointed refusal. Most of us would do the same, wouldn’t we?

The original language paints a picture with more color and far greater depth. While the wording of verse six, “come to bed with me,” is an accurate option, it is more literally translated as “come lie beside me” or “be beside me.” Joseph has options for interpreting her invitation. By the time she persists “day after day,” he will have no doubt about her intentions. But initially, his successful resistance requires subtlety. Joseph chooses not to spend time with her, even though he could claim innocence, while foolishly drifting, step by step, toward the sexual cliff she hopes to pull him over. He refuses to spend time with her, period.

Finally, the recipe for Joseph’s successful resistance is outlined in verse 9, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” You might read this as one thought repeated twice, but he is pointing to two distinct failings. When Joseph mentions “such a wicked thing,” he is referring to his relationship with Potiphar, the trust that would be broken, and the moral contract he chooses to uphold. Caring about people gives us extra courage to do the right thing. Second, he adds, “and sin against Yahweh.” Here, Joseph reflects on the importance of his spiritual journey and the value he places on God's presence in his life. Two things. Each contributes to the power required to resist “day after day.”

Today, no matter the temptation or the number of days in a row you have been hounded, may you experience deliverance through your love for the people around you and the goodness of Immanuel, God with us.

  1. What small, socially acceptable failing do you struggle with, such as gossip, inappropriate humor, or wandering eyes and thoughts?
  2. Who inspires you to do the right thing and gives you the courage to become the person you aspire to be? Are they available to you in a moment of weakness? What would need to happen for that to be possible?
  3. What persistent problem hounds you daily? What do you want to say to Jesus about it?

Written by Pastor Dave Ferguson

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

DAILY-STUDY-Perspective.pdf
GROUP-GUIDE-Perspectives.pdf

Daily Study Podcast

WK3-Wed | Perspective
Sep 9, 2026
WK3-Tue | Perspective
Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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CRSWLK Kids Daily Devotional

Perspective: Kids - W3, Wednesday
Sep 9, 2026
Perspective: Kids - W3, Tuesday
Sep 8, 2026
Perspective: Kids - W3, Monday
Sep 7, 2026
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Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
Sep 9, 2026
Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/02/perspective-wk2-wed#comments 0 Perspective: Wk2 - TUE https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/01/perspective-wk2-tue Tue, 01 Sep 2026 02:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/01/perspective-wk2-tue
Trust
Genesis 39:3-6a
When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Thirteen years will pass between Joseph’s sale into slavery and his ascension to leadership in the courts of Pharaoh. While we don’t know how much of that time he spent in the household of Potiphar, our passage reads with speed and minimalism.

The captain of Pharaoh’s guard purchased Joseph. The Lord was with him; he prospered and lived in Potiphar’s house. Not only did he live in the house rather than the slave quarters, but this servant quickly experienced visible success. So much so that Potiphar elevated him to his attendant, put him in charge, and trusted him enough to stop paying attention to anything beyond his own food.

What an incredible difference between Joseph’s relationships with his brothers and with his owner. The privileged brat and sheep shirker becomes a hardworking, strategic manager: conscientious, loyal, thorough, trusted. One group wants to kill him. The other can’t help but follow him. Is it just different groups of people? Or has something changed in Joseph?

You have probably noticed that when things get difficult, some people shrink back, dwell on negativity, and become worse versions of themselves. Others step up, find new strength, and discover previously unnoticed abilities. Joseph seems to have been the latter. Rather than pout, spend his time reminiscing about the “good ole days,” or complain against Yahweh, he applies himself, builds trust, and influences his surroundings.

Here is the lesson. Failure, disaster, pain, and trouble are opportunities in the hands of Jesus. What are you experiencing that God could use to develop your resourcefulness, unleash more talent, or deepen your compassion? What am I tempted to wish away that, when submitted to Him, would smooth my rough edges and create something beautiful? True, it takes maturity to see things this way. And that’s the point. Somewhere, somehow, stumbling across the desert sands in chains, Joseph matured into a new kind of man, a warrior of faith.

  1. What talent or skill are you currently working to develop? How is that going?
  2. How would others describe your response to difficult circumstances? Why do you think they would say that?
  3. What personal difficulty does Joseph’s story remind you of? What would you like to say to Jesus about it?

Written by Pastor Dave Ferguson

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

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Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
Sep 9, 2026
Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/09/01/perspective-wk2-tue#comments 0 Perspective: Wk2 - MON https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/31/perspective-wk2-mon Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/31/perspective-wk2-mon
Prosperity
Genesis 39:1-2
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

There is a popular theology today that suggests you can tell whether the Lord is with you by what happens to you. Your career is on the rise, the house sells for more than the asking price, or you get pregnant as soon as you hoped. Your social media shares vacation spots, the cars you drive, and decadent meals. God’s presence can be seen from a distance. The only problem is that the Bible teaches something different.

Repeatedly, scripture challenges the idea that God’s presence is measured by how well things are going. For instance, in John 16:33, Jesus warns His disciples, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” So, which is it? With Jesus in our lives, will we experience trouble or be overcomers? Could it be both? As it turns out, prosperity is a matter of perspective.

Most recently, Joseph has been ripped from everything he knows, sold into slavery at a bargain-basement price, transported across the desert to Egypt, and sold into the service of Potiphar. This is a brutal man responsible for Pharaoh’s security, managing the state prisons, conducting royal investigations, and overseeing executions. Joseph isn’t on a skiing trip in Aspen or honeymooning in Cabo. Yet in these circumstances, the Bible says, “The LORD was with Joseph, and he prospered” (Genesis 39:2).

Is it possible that the dissonance in this story reveals two distinct worlds? Is there a difference between the inner and outer worlds? A contrast between the physical and the spiritual? This would explain a lot. What if real prosperity is experienced from the inside out? Is true success a spiritual reality rather than a physical one? Could this be what Paul taps into when he says:

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13)

What if prosperity is the presence of Yahweh? Like the undaunted spirit of a concentration camp survivor or a hospice patient, somehow able to claim joy, Joseph is living a life of prosperity as a slave, alone, with no hope of rescue.

Today, may you live the lavish life of prosperity… peace, contentment, and joy… because Jesus is with you.

  1. If you could travel anywhere in the world to experience one meal, where would you go and what would you eat?
  2. What is something you have been praying for that, as of yet, you haven’t received? How does that make you feel?
  3. What gift for your inner world would you like to ask Jesus for today?

Written by Pastor Dave Ferguson

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DAILY-STUDY-Perspective.pdf
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Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/31/perspective-wk2-mon#comments 0 Perspective: Wk1 - GROUP GUIDE https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/29/perspective-wk1-group-guide Sat, 29 Aug 2026 01:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/29/perspective-wk1-group-guide
INTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.

OPEN:  If you had siblings growing up, what were some of the things they did that drove you nuts? If you were an only child, what were some of the things you loved about being an only child and what, if anything, would you have changed?

SCRIPTURE READING
Read together:  Genesis 37:2-36, Romans 3:23, Proverbs 29:11, Isaiah 43:19, 1 John 1:9, 2 Corinthians 12:9

Notice from the very beginning of Joseph’s story, there is tension and dysfunction. This began long before Joseph was born, but maybe Joseph didn’t know any better, maybe he did. Either way, the beginning of his story begins with something familiar to us all…family drama.

HEAD: Explore the Text
  1. Share any wisdom, insights, or thoughts you received just from listening to the text, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead.
  2. Right from the start, we’re told about how Joseph was loved and elevated over his other, older, brothers. In their culture, priority should have gone from oldest to youngest. How do you think this made the other brothers feel? Why do you think Jacob was so overtly loving and showed favorites? (think about Leah and Rachel's story, plus mothers of the other brothers).
  3. Do you think Joseph let this love and favoritism go to his head, or do you think he didn’t know any better? Do you think he had his brothers’ best future in mind, or that he was rubbing their noses in his favoritism? Do you think Joseph expected his dreams to be good news for his brothers?
  4. As the other brothers plot to kill Joseph, Reuben tries to at least keep him from being murdered. Do you think Reuben was having compassion on Joseph or Jacob? Explain.
  5. Why do you think the Isaiah 43:19 passage is shared during the first week of this story? What’s its potential application here?

HEART: Personal Reflection
  1. One of the phrases that come to mind as we read through the deception of Joseph’s brothers both to Joseph, and to their father, is, “Oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we practice to deceive.” Why do small lies often become big lies?
  2. Name some of the dysfunctions we find in the beginning of this story of Joseph.
  3. Why do you think God left, in His sacred word, all these stories about sinful human beings?
  4. What hope do you find for your story knowing that God can bring good out of even the worst human beings and human circumstances.

HANDS: Practice This Week
Spiritual Practice: leaning on his everlasting love
  • Knowing all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, what struggles are in your life right now that you want/need to lay at the feet of Jesus
  • Knowing that God’s love can overcome and rewrite your sin/story, spend time this week in prayers of gratitude for how He loves you.
  • Journal your insights through this experience as you meditate on these truths this week.

Invite the group to check in next week about their experience.

FINISH WELL: Bring It Home
  • Looking back over the course of your life, what was broken inside of you that God has made whole? What negative situation did God bring something good out of?

CLOSING PRAYER (Psalm 51)
1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight…
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. 

Written by Pastor Paddy McCoy

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

DAILY-STUDY-Perspective.pdf
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WK3-Wed | Perspective
Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
Sep 9, 2026
Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/29/perspective-wk1-group-guide#comments 0 Perspective: Wk1 - FRI https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/27/perspective-wk1-fri Thu, 27 Aug 2026 23:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/27/perspective-wk1-fri
The Father
Genesis 37:29-36
Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief. Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, “The boy is gone! What will I do now?”

Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”

Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!” Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time. His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “I will go to my grave mourning for my son,” he would say, and then he would weep.

Meanwhile, the Midianite traders arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.

The deed is done. Joseph is gone.

As Reuben returns to find what his brothers have done, reality engulfs the group. The relief of getting rid of their tormentor gives way to the dread of informing Jacob. They cannot tell him the truth. So they act on the plan they workshopped when Joseph was still approaching in the distance. Taking his coat, they tear it, drag it through the dirt, and soak it in the blood of a goat. But then comes the hardest part, delivering it to their father. In the end, none of them has the courage to face him. They send it with a servant.

Temptation sells us an idea without consequences. Enamored with the prospect of having what we want, we ignore the cost. But then the fine print at the bottom of the advertisement becomes reality. As the years rolled by, guilt and remorse must have engulfed these brothers. Did they ever sit with their father without seeing lines of grief etched across his face, knowing they had drawn them there? Could they rescue a lamb from a ditch and resist the memory of pulling Joseph from the pit? Could they participate in the sacrifice of a lamb and seek forgiveness without seeing the coat awash in blood? Did every sunset bring the mirage of a Midianite caravan disappearing over the horizon?

Forced perspective is a profound problem. We mistake small things for large ones and the biggest things for small ones. We easily minimize the consequences to get the short-term hit of indulging our hunger. Then we pay the price in crippling guilt and paralyzing shame, realizing our secrets harm us. We have all experienced this collapse of perspective. And there is only one remedy. The forgiveness of Jesus.

As you read this, one thing is certain. You are in need of forgiveness. Good news. The one who has what you need is quick to give it. The sacrifice of Jesus is sufficient to cover whatever you have done. He promises forgiveness the moment you confess. The scriptures tell us: … if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness (1 John 1:9). And Jesus reminds us: “My grace is all you need” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Reordered perspective. The hunger you were tempted to satisfy is replaced by something new Jesus is making.

Meanwhile, Joseph… God’s plan to redeem this family and rescue the nations will take twists and turns. It won’t be quick. Joseph will endure 13 years of desperation and difficulty. But make no mistake, Jesus is working. Count on this. Jesus is working.

  1. What is something you purchased only to quickly regret it? What did you do about it?
  2. Do you carry guilt or shame over something you’ve done or didn’t do? What should you say to Jesus about this?

Written by Pastor Pastor Dave Ferguson

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

DAILY-STUDY-Perspective.pdf
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WK3-Wed | Perspective
Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Perspective: Kids - W3, Wednesday
Sep 9, 2026
Perspective: Kids - W3, Tuesday
Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
Sep 9, 2026
Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/27/perspective-wk1-fri#comments 0 Perspective: Wk1 - THU https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/26/perspective-wk1-thu Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/26/perspective-wk1-thu
Silver
Genesis 37:25-28
Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.

Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime. Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed. So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.

Knowing the end of the story allows us to ask a significant question: how many imperfect things did God use to save His people? Joseph will clearly serve as the instrument Yahweh employs to rescue the Egyptians, the surrounding nations, and Jacob’s family from famine. To do so, he will overcome Jacob’s favoritism, Joseph’s pride, the competitive fury of his ten brothers, and the Midianites’ slave trade, to name a few. Out of man’s sinful nature, He is weaving a royal coat of His own. The miraculous power of God uses the scraps of our failings to quilt together the fabric of salvation.

During this pivotal moment that leads to Joseph’s slavery, Reuben is missing again. This time, Judah steps in to save their younger brother’s life. Slavery, barely better than death, is the loophole God needs for His plan to succeed. The Midianite slave traders can see that these shepherds are desperate to offload their prisoner. With no bargaining leverage, Joseph is sold for 20 pieces of silver, the minimum price allowed in the culture of the day.

Stripped, sold, shackled. As the sun sets, Joseph’s homeland and all he loves drift into the distant sands. His life is over. Or is it just beginning? Perspective. For him and for us, we might always suspect that the most difficult moments are when God does His best work.

For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
Isaiah 43:19

  1. What is something you have had to sell in a hurry? What price did you get for it?
  2. What is something or someone you have found particularly difficult to say goodbye to? How have you journeyed through it?
  3. What are you going through right now that feels disastrous? How could God bring salvation from this problem? What would you like to say to Jesus about it? 

Written by Pastor Pastor Dave Ferguson

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

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Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
Sep 9, 2026
Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/26/perspective-wk1-thu#comments 0 Perspective: WK1 - WED https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/25/perspective-wk1-wed Tue, 25 Aug 2026 23:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/25/perspective-wk1-wed
The Plot
Genesis 37:12-24
Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.  When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them.” “I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied.

 “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring me a report.” So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron.

When he arrived there, a man from the area noticed him wandering around the countryside. “What are you looking for?” he asked.

 “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Do you know where they are pasturing their sheep?”

 “Yes,” the man told him. “They have moved on from here, but I heard them say, ‘Let’s go on to Dothan.’” So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there.

When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. “Here comes the dreamer!” they said.  “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said.  “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father.

So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

Hostility between Joseph and his brothers had reached a boiling point. One look at the teen filled his siblings with suspicion, dread, and anger. Far from home and working in dangerous territory, their senses were heightened as they saw a figure approaching in the distance, wearing the long-sleeved coat of a prince. The identification was immediate. The tattletale had been sent to spy on them again. The crew of shepherds began brainstorming ways to get back at their brother until, finally, someone said it out loud. “We could kill him and end our troubles. Who would know he hadn’t been attacked by wild animals traveling out here alone?”

Several well-known studies on groupthink and group polarization show that groups of like-minded individuals often make more extreme decisions than any one individual would on their own. Does one of the brothers jokingly suggest violence, and, through the laughter, do things escalate? Ultimately, they settle on the most severe plan possible.

It appears that the oldest brother, Reuben, wasn’t present at the brainstorming session that led to this murderous plot. However, by the time Joseph arrived, the plan had already been hatched; Reuben heard of it and successfully derailed the group’s momentum. Upon his arrival, Joseph was attacked, stripped of his identity, and thrown into a pit while the brothers regrouped.

Let’s pause here to reflect on a couple of dynamics. First, Joseph’s mentality. His self-centered mindset causes him to miss all the cues that should have warned him of danger. This moment feels like watching someone run to hide in a shed filled with chainsaws in a movie called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. How could he be so blind? Simple. He cannot see through the intoxicating hubris of pride.

Second, consider the courage it took for Reuben to stand up to the scheme of his nine brothers and de-escalate their bloodlust. Something in Reuben’s character speaks up and steps in. His actions remind us of an important principle from Proverbs 29:11:

Fools vent their anger,
but the wise quietly hold it back.

  1. Name one of your pet peeves. Why do you think it bothers you?
  2. Who is someone who makes you angry? Why do you think that is? What have you done about it?
  3. What is going on in your relationships that God may ask you to de-escalate? How could you do so? What would you like to say to Jesus about this?

Written by Pastor Pastor Dave Ferguson

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

DAILY-STUDY-Perspective.pdf
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WK3-Wed | Perspective
Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
Sep 9, 2026
Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/25/perspective-wk1-wed#comments 0 Perspective: WK1 - TUE https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/24/perspective-wk1-tue Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/24/perspective-wk1-tue
Dreams
Genesis 37:2-11
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

As a child, I loved the stories of Joseph that my parents read to me. This faithful young man, hounded by his brothers, sold, exiled, and imprisoned, never lost faith. I saw him as the innocent, spotless hero. Accordingly, Joseph’s life can be presented as otherworldly, unattainable, and superhuman. Is he the exception to Paul’s declaration that “… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)? If so, these stories have little to teach us and offer no example we can follow. However, embedded in the first verses of his story, we find evidence that Joseph isn’t perfect and that he struggled with pride and selfishness just like us.

The second verse of Genesis 37 describes Joseph returning from his brothers to give his father a “bad” or “evil report” about them. I had always read this as meaning that Joseph’s brothers were doing bad things, and that he did the responsible thing by sharing it with his father. We don’t know whether Jacob had sent Joseph on a reporting mission or whether the teenager regularly engaged in the schoolyard practice of tattling. Either way, the original Hebrew wording of this passage carries something important. Every time the word translated here as “report” appears in scripture, it carries sinister overtones of fabrication, slander, or even false accusation. So when the author tells us that Joseph brings Jacob a “bad report” regarding his brothers, it is hard to miss that he does so to his own advantage. Our awe-shucks protagonist may feign innocence, but he knows what he is doing. Joseph is smearing his brothers to increase his own celebrated status.

The story moves to the telling of two dreams. For the remainder of his life, Joseph displays high-level intelligence, remarkable discernment, and top-tier strategic planning. Does it seem plausible that he is unaware of how sharing these visions will affect his brothers and their families? Is he oblivious to their ever-growing anger? Or is he playing to his father’s favoritism and his own pride? I believe the answer is unmistakable. Joseph isn’t perfect. He is struggling with the need to build his credibility and approval, as most of us do through our teen years.

As I reflect on this passage, I love the stories of Joseph even more. Not because I like how he needled his brothers or fabricated his father’s disapproval, but because I find them more relatable. They also give me hope. The scriptures tell us that God was with Joseph throughout his life, not waiting for him to become perfect. Yahweh drew near despite Joseph’s sinfulness and failings. Surely, He walks with me too.

  1. Who is someone you have always looked up to? Why?
  2. Can you remember a time when you stretched the truth to your advantage? When was it? How have you felt about it since?
  3. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you shade the truth to your own advantage when you think no one will figure it out? Why do you think you do this? What would you like to say to Jesus about this?

Written by Pastor Pastor Dave Ferguson

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

DAILY-STUDY-Perspective.pdf
GROUP-GUIDE-Perspectives.pdf

Daily Study Podcast

WK3-Wed | Perspective
Sep 9, 2026
WK3-Tue | Perspective
Sep 8, 2026
WK3-Mon | Perspective
Sep 7, 2026
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CRSWLK Kids Daily Devotional

Perspective: Kids - W3, Wednesday
Sep 9, 2026
Perspective: Kids - W3, Tuesday
Sep 8, 2026
Perspective: Kids - W3, Monday
Sep 7, 2026
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The Abide Daily Podcast

Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
Sep 9, 2026
Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/24/perspective-wk1-tue#comments 0 Perspective: WK1 - MON https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/23/perspective-wk1-mon Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/23/perspective-wk1-mon
Hostility
Genesis 37:2-4: This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Maybe you know someone you would say, if you want to know the story of Fred, Barbara, or Sam, then let me tell you about his or her son. She hung the planets on that boy. Everything revolved around his favorite. That’s how it is in the 37th chapter of Genesis. You want to know the story of Jacob? Then you are going to need to hear about his son, Joseph.

Don’t misunderstand. Jacob has twelve sons. It just takes a while for the others to be mentioned by name. And when they are, it’s in the context of the story of Joseph. He is the centerpiece of this patriarch’s affections, and they all know it.

Some of this is predictable. A few chapters earlier in the book of Genesis, you will find the story of Jacob being tricked into marrying Laban’s daughter Leah instead of his true love, Rachel. Seven years of hard labor later, Jacob earned the right to marry his originally intended bride. It appears he never got over the trickery, and his marriage to Leah was loveless (Genesis 29:31), while his devotion to Rachel grew stronger.

Rachel struggled to have children, while Leah bore Jacob six sons. To complicate matters, both Rachel and Leah gave Jacob their handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, in marriage to help produce offspring. Each handmaid bore two sons. Four wives and ten children later, the household was a hotbed of competition, tension, and resentment, as Rachel remained childless. Finally, Rachel gave birth to Joseph. Then, when he was between 6 and 9 years old, Rachel died in childbirth as Jacob’s final son, Benjamin, was born.

Jacob should have known the crippling effects of family favoritism, having grown up in the household of a father who favored his brother Esau (Genesis 25:28). Yet, as is often the case, what should have cautioned him only drove him to imitation. At times in our story, Joseph is privileged to stay home while the other sons must work the sheep fields. Joseph is treated as his father’s representative and spokesperson to his older brothers. If it wasn’t enough for them to notice the obvious, Jacob gave Joseph a special coat to wear, proclaiming his favored position.

Some translations of Scripture describe the coat as “multi-colored,” and it may have been. But the best translation of the Hebrew suggests it was a “lengthy coat” (likely with long sleeves). This language describes a princely coat, not one intended for work. In a vivid depiction, Jacob makes a plain statement. “I am elevating my eleventh-born son to the birthright of the family. He is the first son of my beloved wife Rachel. None of the rest of you fully count as my sons. I have exempted him from working the same way you will each have to. He is my favorite.” Joseph’s brothers could see that their father loved him most, and they hated him for it.

The primary problem with favoritism is its exclusionary nature. I used to joke with my mother that I was her favorite among her three children. She would smile and say, “Yes, you are, you all are.” Everything about her behavior validated that claim. This story starts with pain. Not on Joseph’s part. It begins with a multitude of family members who don’t feel included or loved. How might this story have differed if this father’s love had been universal, unconditional, and freely given? What a contrast to the love of God described in Zechariah 2:8, when He says of His followers, “… whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye…”

  1. What are some of your favorite things? Holiday? Vacation spot? Dessert? Hobby?
  2. Have you ever known yourself to be someone’s favorite? Whose and why do you think they favored you?
  3. What does it mean to you to know that you are the apple of God’s eye? Is this easy to believe? Why or why not?

Written by Pastor Pastor Dave Ferguson

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DAILY-STUDY-Perspective.pdf
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Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/23/perspective-wk1-mon#comments 0 Perspective: INTRO https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/22/perspective-intro Sat, 22 Aug 2026 23:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/22/perspective-intro
2 Corinthians 4:18
…we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Most of us have sat in a classroom or attended a seminar where a presenter flashed an image on the screen and asked us to identify what we saw. Maybe you were shown a horse that, when turned sideways, looked like a frog. Perhaps you argued with fellow participants over whether you were seeing a duck or a rabbit in Jastrow’s drawing. Or were you asked whether the woman in the picture was young or old, only to realize, after squinting and twisting, that you could see both?

Perspective. So many factors shape how we see the world and what is happening around us. Our past experiences, culture, worldview, prejudices, presuppositions, and the comments of those we trust all inform our perspective. Our insecurities and fears, pain and pride, shape how we interpret events. Critically, once we see things a certain way, it is difficult to see them any differently.

Artists often play with perspective. Sidewalk chalk illusionists, photographers, and even selfie-takers use forced perspective to create fantastical images. By altering distance, scale, angle, and placement, they exploit how the human eye processes depth to give the impression that a tourist is crushing the Eiffel Tower underfoot. It turns out that being too close or too far from something easily distorts our sense of what is real.

What if this is true of our spiritual lives as well? Are we tempted to make a single moment, a day, or a year the sum total of God’s work on our behalf? Are we in danger of drawing the wrong conclusions about God because of the forced perspective created by losing a job, being falsely accused, being diagnosed with cancer, or the death of a loved one?

Thank you for joining us for this sermon series, Perspective: The Life of Joseph. In it, we will wrestle with our character flaws and recognize that Joseph was far from perfect. We will come face-to-face with disappointment, unfairness, abuse, and neglect. We will notice how often, amid the bleak darkness of difficulty, the Bible says, “Yahweh was with Joseph.” We will see what faith looks like as this forgotten teenager experiences God breaking the “forced perspective” of pain, loneliness, and cruelty to show him that “… in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). By the end of Joseph’s life, the slave is elevated to ruler, offense yields forgiveness, and abandonment turns into belonging. Finally, we will take a week to look at Joseph and notice that, with a slight shift in angle and a squint, we see contrasts and comparisons to the face of Jesus.

So, let me show you some images on the screen. What do you see? If you turn your experiences at a slight angle, you might break the forced perspective of proximity to what happened most recently and see a new picture come into focus: Jesus is with you.

Pastor Pastor Dave Ferguson and Series Guide Team.

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

DAILY-STUDY-Perspective.pdf
GROUP-GUIDE-Perspectives.pdf

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WK3-Wed | Perspective
Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
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Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/22/perspective-intro#comments 0 Missio Dei: WK 5 - GROUP GUIDE https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/15/missio-dei-wk-5-group-guide Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/15/missio-dei-wk-5-group-guide
MISSIO DEI | WEEK 5 - Until He Returns

INTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.

OPEN:  How do you imagine the return of Jesus to this earth? Use your imagination. What do you see? Hear? Feel? 

SCRIPTURE READING
Read together: Matthew 24:14, Revelation 7:9-10, 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, Micah 6:8, James 2:14-17, Revelation 22: 12-13, 20

Jesus has given us a job to do until he returns, and it involves all of us to all of us for all of Him.

HEAD: Explore the Text
  1. Share any wisdom, insights, or thoughts you received just from listening to the text, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead.
  2. In our modern world, with technology, do you think there are lots of places and people that haven’t yet heard the gospel? Are there people who live in 1st world countries who you think haven’t heard? Explain your answer.
  3. If there are people from every nation, tribe and language in heaven, why do so many faith traditions think only they will be saved?
  4. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul tells us that Christ gave us a task to do (verse 18-19). What is the task and how do we go about accomplishing it?
  5. What does it mean to you that God is making his appeal through us? He could have chosen anyway, but he chose us.
  6. How do you reconcile the idea of faith and works when it comes to salvation? Does one of them save you? Why are they both “required”?
  7. Revelation 22 was written close to 2,000 years ago. So what do you think Jesus meant by “coming soon”?

HEART: Personal Reflection
  1. Describe what you think evangelism is? How might you and I learn to live evangelistically, instead of just doing evangelism?
  2. So many have been hurt by the church, or those professing to follow Christ but not acting anything like him. What does the ministry of reconciliation look like to the hurt, the traumatized, or even the tired of religion folks?
  3. Which comes first in the life of a follower for Jesus, faith or works? Explain.
  4. Who are some of the people from the many nations and tribes that you look forward to meeting, talking to, learning from, when we gather in heaven?

HANDS: Practice This Week
Spiritual Practice: Living Word
  • St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Speak the gospel always; when necessary, use words.”
  • This week, seek to find ways to be a blessing, to share Jesus, and to participate in the ministry of reconciliation without saying a word. This can be super challenging for us task-oriented people, so spend time in prayer each day, asking God for help to know how to do this, opening your eyes to see the opportunities, then GO and be his witnesses in all the world.

Invite the group to check in next week about their experience.

FINISH WELL: Bring It Home
  1. Who is someone in your circle of influence that you know needs God’s ministry of reconciliation? What’s one thing you can do this week, for them, to help them know God loves them and is thinking about them?
  2. Jesus is both coming soon, and already here thru his Holy Spirit. How do we live, today, celebrating the God who is with us now, while looking forward to the God who is coming soon?

CLOSING SCRIPTURE (Leader or Participant Reads):
9 After saying this, [JESUS] was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. 10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” …[SO GO AND]… “be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:9-11, 8b, NLT)

Pastor Paddy McCoy

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

MISSIO-DEI-DAILY-STUDY.pdf
MISSIO-DEI-GROUP-GUIDE.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Grupo.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Serie.pdf

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Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/15/missio-dei-wk-5-group-guide#comments 0 Missio Dei: WK5 - FRI https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/14/missio-dei-wk5-fri Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/14/missio-dei-wk5-fri
NOW IT’S YOUR MOVE
Revelation 22:12-13, 20 (NLT) “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me... I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” ... “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

The last book of the Bible ends with a longing. Come, Lord Jesus. It is the oldest prayer in the Christian tradition, the prayer of people who have understood what the mission is, given themselves to it, and now ache for the day when the King finally arrives. Not because the work has been exhausting, though it has. But because they have seen enough of Jesus to want more of him, and the mission has taken them close enough to the heart of God that they want to be there fully.

Five weeks ago we began by asking who owns the mission. The answer was God, and it always has been. He sent his Son. He sent his Spirit. He called Abraham before the destination was visible, Isaiah before he felt qualified, disciples before they stopped failing. We looked at the world he loves, at Jesus as the shape of the mission made flesh, at the church as a community formed not to stay gathered but to go out. And this week we stood at the end of the story and let where it is going reshape how we live in its middle.

The invitation is what it has always been. The mission that started in the love of God before time is still moving. History is still progressing toward that crowd in Revelation 7, every nation and tribe and tongue gathered around the throne. The God who sends is still sending. The question is the same one he asked Isaiah in the smoke-filled throne room, the same one Jesus answered with his life: Whom shall I send? The tomb is empty. The King is coming. The mission is yours.

  1. Looking back over these five weeks, what has impacted you most deeply?
  2. Where do you sense God inviting you to participate more intentionally in his mission?
  3. If God asked you today, “Whom shall I send?” how would you respond?

Pastor Andreas Beccai - Crosswalk Redlands

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

MISSIO-DEI-DAILY-STUDY.pdf
MISSIO-DEI-GROUP-GUIDE.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Grupo.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Serie.pdf

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WK3-Wed | Perspective
Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Sep 9, 2026
Perspective: Kids - W3, Tuesday
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Perspective: Kids - W3, Monday
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Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
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Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/14/missio-dei-wk5-fri#comments 0 Missio Dei: WK5 - THU https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/13/missio-dei-wk5-thu Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/13/missio-dei-wk5-thu
FAITHFUL UNTIL
Micah 6:8 / James 2:14-17 (NLT) “This is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” / “Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, ‘Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well’ , but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?”

James has no patience for faith that stays inside your head.

He makes the argument as concretely as possible. Someone is cold and hungry. You say, “God bless you, stay warm.” And you walk away. James asks: what good did that do? He’s not being harsh for the sake of it. He is insisting that love, to be real, must take a form that the other person can actually receive.

The eschatological urgency we have been exploring this week does not lift us above the concrete. It pushes us further into it. The person who truly believes the King is coming is not thereby exempted from the work of justice in the present. They are more committed to it, because they know which direction history is moving and want to move with it.

There is a scene from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood that has stayed in public memory long after the show ended. It is 1969. Fred Rogers invites Officer Clemmons, a Black character, to share a small paddling pool with him on a hot day. The two men sit together, feet in the water, talking quietly. It seems like nothing. But in the context of that moment in American history, two men of different races sharing that small space was its own kind of statement, made not through argument or announcement but through the simple act of being present together. Rogers did not make a speech. He just kept showing up, kept inviting, kept making space. Faithful until. That is the shape of it.

Micah 6:8 and James 2 belong together. Micah tells us what God requires: justice, mercy, humility. James tells us what that looks like when someone’s hunger is in the room. It looks like food. The grand theological vision of the kingdom of God and the bag of groceries left on someone’s porch: these are not different categories. They are the same thing, at different scales.

We are waiting for the King to return. And while we wait, there are hungry people, cold people, lonely people, enslaved people, ignored people in our city. The waiting is not passive. It is not a spiritual holding pattern while God finishes the real work. The waiting is the work , the ongoing, daily, frequently unglamorous work of love in its most concrete forms. Faithful until he returns looks like Micah 6:8 and James 2 combined: doing justice, loving mercy, walking humbly with God, and actually giving the cold person your coat.

  1. Where is God inviting you to make your faith more tangible and practical?
  2. Who around you has a concrete need you can help meet this week?
  3. What does the faithful waiting for Jesus’s return look like in ordinary daily life?

Pastor Andreas Beccai - Crosswalk Redlands

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

MISSIO-DEI-DAILY-STUDY.pdf
MISSIO-DEI-GROUP-GUIDE.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Grupo.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Serie.pdf

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Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/13/missio-dei-wk5-thu#comments 0 Missio Dei: WK5 - WED https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/12/missio-dei-wk5-wed Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/12/missio-dei-wk5-wed
AMBASSADORS IN BETWEEN
2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (NLT) “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him... So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us.”

Remember the middle school cafeteria? Long before cell phones, if your friend liked someone, they didn't send a text or DM. They wrote a note on a piece of notebook paper, handed it to you, and made you the messenger. You didn't write it. You didn’t compose the feelings inside it. But you had to carry it across a room that felt a mile wide, because your friend was too terrified to do it themselves. If you’ve ever done that, you already understand the core of what it means to be an ambassador. You’re just carrying someone else's message.

They don’t become citizens of the place they’re sent to. But they don’t hold the place at arm’s length either. They are fully present , learning the language, understanding the culture, navigating its systems , while remaining rooted in their commission and their identity. They are there on behalf of someone else, carrying a message they did not compose and an offer they did not generate, but which they are fully authorized to make.

Paul says that is what we are. Christ’s ambassadors. Which means we are people of the in-between: fully present in the world, genuinely engaged with the culture, the neighborhood, the workplace, the political reality. But present on behalf of another kingdom, carrying a message of reconciliation that did not originate in us, but in the God who, in Christ, was already reconciling the world to himself.

“God is making his appeal through us.” This sentence should stop us in our tracks. The appeal of God to a broken world is, in some genuine sense, mediated through the lives and voices and presence of his people. He could have done this differently. He chose this , the same pattern as the incarnation, the same downward, present-in-the-mess method. He sends people. He speaks through them. He makes his appeal through ordinary lives that have been made new.

You are in the middle of an era that has not yet ended. The new creation has begun, Paul says the old has gone, the new has come, but the reconciliation of all things is not yet complete. You live in the overlap, the in-between, the now-and-not-yet. And in that in-between, you are not waiting. You are sent. You are an ambassador. God is making his appeal through you.

  1. What does it mean to you to be an ambassador for Christ?
  2. How can you remain fully engaged in the world while rooted in God’s kingdom?
  3. In what ways might God be making his appeal through your life right now?

Pastor Andreas Beccai - Crosswalk Redlands

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

MISSIO-DEI-DAILY-STUDY.pdf
MISSIO-DEI-GROUP-GUIDE.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Grupo.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Serie.pdf

Daily Study Podcast

WK3-Wed | Perspective
Sep 9, 2026
WK3-Tue | Perspective
Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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CRSWLK Kids Daily Devotional

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Perspective: Kids - W3, Tuesday
Sep 8, 2026
Perspective: Kids - W3, Monday
Sep 7, 2026
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Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
Sep 9, 2026
Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/12/missio-dei-wk5-wed#comments 0 Missio Dei: WK5 - TUE https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/11/missio-dei-wk5-tue Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/11/missio-dei-wk5-tue
THE END PICTURE SHAPES THE PRESENT
Revelation 7:9-10 (NLT) “After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great shout, ‘Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!’”

John sees the end, and it is a crowd.

Every nation, every tribe, every people, every language: a gathering so diverse, so vast, and so unified in worship that it could only have been assembled by someone who loves difference as much as he loves unity. The throne at the center does not erase the diversity around it. It gathers it, holds it, makes it possible.

This image is not just a comfort for the future, it’s a mandate for the present.

If Revelation 7:9 describes where history is going, then anything that moves toward that picture is moving with the grain of the universe. Tribalism, ethnic exclusivity, a church that reflects only one culture, a gospel that only reaches people who already look like us: these are movements against the direction of history.

The eschatological crowd in Revelation is the final argument for cross-cultural mission. The destination of the story includes every tribe and tongue. Which means the mission that gets us there must cross every border, every language, every cultural division that currently keeps human beings from that throne. We are building toward that gathering, and every face not yet there is someone the mission is still moving toward. Let the picture of the end shape what you build.

  1. How does Revelation’s vision of every tribe and nation shape your understanding of the church?
  2. Where do you see division or exclusion that runs against God’s future vision?
  3. How can you become someone who helps build bridges across differences?

Pastor Andreas Beccai - Crosswalk Redlands

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

MISSIO-DEI-DAILY-STUDY.pdf
MISSIO-DEI-GROUP-GUIDE.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Grupo.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Serie.pdf

Daily Study Podcast

WK3-Wed | Perspective
Sep 9, 2026
WK3-Tue | Perspective
Sep 8, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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CRSWLK Kids Daily Devotional

Perspective: Kids - W3, Wednesday
Sep 9, 2026
Perspective: Kids - W3, Tuesday
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Perspective: Kids - W3, Monday
Sep 7, 2026
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The Abide Daily Podcast

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Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/11/missio-dei-wk5-tue#comments 0 Missio Dei: WK5 - MON https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/10/missio-dei-wk5-mon Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/10/missio-dei-wk5-mon
THE MISSION HAS AN ENDPOINT
Matthew 24:14 (NLT) “And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.”

Somewhere in the economy of God, the mission has a finish line.

Jesus says it plainly: the gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all nations, and then , not before, but then , the end will come. This is not a timeline Christians can calculate or a metric we can obsessively track. It is a statement about the shape of history. The mission is moving toward something. It has a direction. It has a destination. The story is not circling; it is progressing.

Every parent knows what clarity about the future does to the present. When an eight-year-old in the backseat asks “are we almost there yet?” for the fourth time, the answer matters enormously. Tell them twenty minutes and they settle, pull out a book, stop asking. Tell them hours and hours and watch what happens to the atmosphere in the car. Clarity about the destination changes how you carry the journey. It does not make the miles shorter. It makes them bearable, purposeful, even interesting.

If the mission had no endpoint, it might be easier to treat it as background noise , something good people do in modest ways over the long haul. But Jesus tells us that the mission is tied to the consummation of everything. The proclamation of the kingdom to the nations is not merely a good thing to do. It is, in some mysterious sense, part of the mechanism by which history moves toward its conclusion.

This is not a call to anxious urgency or apocalyptic calculation. It is a call to purposeful engagement. You and I are alive at this moment in history, in this city, in this neighborhood, with these relationships , not by accident. God is a sending God, and he placed us here, in this particular chapter of the story, on purpose. The question is not whether the mission will be completed. Jesus has already told us it will. The question is whether we will know the joy of participating.

The finish line is real. The story is heading somewhere. We are people sent into the middle of it, carrying the announcement that the King is coming, that the kingdom is already breaking in, and that the end will be better than anyone dares imagine.

  1. How does knowing history is moving toward God’s purposes shape the way you live today?
  2. What relationships or opportunities might God have placed in your life intentionally?
  3. What would purposeful engagement in God’s mission look like this week?

Pastor Andreas Beccai - Crosswalk Redlands

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

MISSIO-DEI-DAILY-STUDY.pdf
MISSIO-DEI-GROUP-GUIDE.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Grupo.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Serie.pdf

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Sep 9, 2026
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Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/10/missio-dei-wk5-mon#comments 0 Missio Dei: WK 4 - GROUP GUIDE https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/08/missio-dei-wk-4-group-guide Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/08/missio-dei-wk-4-group-guide
MISSIO DEI | WEEK 4 - The church as the sent community

INTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.

OPEN:  Think of something in your life that was a big deal to you, something that you know you couldn’t have done on your own. Who did you partner with and what lessons did you learn from that experience?

SCRIPTURE READING
Read together: Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:42, 44-47, Ephesians 4:11-13, 
I Peter 2:9-10

Jesus gave birth to the church, His body, a new race of humans filled with His Holy Spirit, called and equipped to bring more of heaven to earth. This is done as a great partnership between us and our Creator.

HEAD: Explore the Text
  1. Share any wisdom, insights, or thoughts you received just from listening to the text, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead.
  2. Notice how in Matthew 28:17, they worshiped the risen Lord, and some doubted. However, what does Jesus say to them about their doubts in verses 18-20? What is significant about this?
  3. The disciples were told to wait to move until they received power from the Holy Spirit. So why wait? Why is that waiting hard for us today and have you found anything that makes it easier? And what were we to be witnesses of, and who were we to witness to, as described in Acts 1:8?
  4. In Acts 2, what actions did the community do together that not only strengthened them, but made them better witnesses for Jesus?
  5. The gifts Christ gave to the church in Ephesians seem to be all the public ones. What other gifts are given to Christ’s church that are not so public, but are deeply critical?
  6. What are the dark spaces Jesus calls us out of in order to walk with him in his light?

HEART: Personal Reflection
  1. How do you and I remember to partner with God regularly, so that we aren’t just doing things for him, but with him?
  2. Throughout the call of God to partner with us, the idea of being of one heart, united, continues to come up. How is this accomplished in a world so deeply divided?
  3. What is your view on the Holy Spirit’s indwelling in us, today? Does it still happen? What does it look like? How do we receive the Spirit?

HANDS: Practice This Week
Spiritual Practice: Waiting and Sending
  • Spend the next seven days praying over what God is ready to partner with you on to bless others and his church.
  • As part of that prayer, ask for even more of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you into all truth (i.e. the full presence of Jesus), and equip you for his call
  • At the end of the seven days, write out any areas you feel more convicted where God wants to use you to serve and bless others and his church.

Invite the group to check in next week about their experience.

FINISH WELL: Bring It Home
  1. Knowing we are all called to participate in mission of God, what are some of the ways you feel gifted to help be His witness and build up His church?
  2. What are two ways this week that you can show others “the goodness of God”?

CLOSING PRAYER (Leader or Participant Reads)
Abba, Father,
You chose to partner with us,
Help us to partner with you,
To build up each other,
To serve your church,
And to help bring more light into the darkness.
With your Spirit within us,
And your Word to guide us,
May we, your church, represent you to the world you died to save.
Amen

Pastor Paddy McCoy

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

MISSIO-DEI-DAILY-STUDY.pdf
MISSIO-DEI-GROUP-GUIDE.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Grupo.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Serie.pdf

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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/08/missio-dei-wk-4-group-guide#comments 0 Missio Dei: WK4 - FRI https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/07/missio-dei-wk4-fri Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/07/missio-dei-wk4-fri
CHOSEN TO DECLARE
1 Peter 2:9-10 (NLT) “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”

Peter writes to scattered people. The churches he addresses are not the cultural majority. They are minorities living in a world that doesn’t share their commitments, often under pressure and sometimes under persecution. And his word to them is not commiseration. It is identity.

But to understand how radical this identity is, you have to go back fifteen hundred years before Peter wrote it. In Exodus 19:6, God tells Israel at Sinai: “You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” This was God’s original design , not just a tribe with a religious tradition, but an entire people functioning as priests for the world. Priests stood between the holy and the human. They made the presence of God reachable for those who could not approach it on their own.

Israel largely failed to grasp this. They received the identity as a mark of separation rather than as a mandate for mission. Walter Kaiser, one of the foremost scholars of the Old Testament, calls this one of the great tragedies of redemptive history , a people called to be priests for all the nations who became instead a religious club for themselves. Election mistaken for privilege rather than understood as purpose.

Now Peter takes that same language from Exodus 19 and hands it to scattered, pressured, minority communities of Gentile believers: you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Everything Israel was called to be and largely failed to become, you now are, in Christ. Not chosen for privilege. Chosen for purpose. The election language is not an end in itself. It is the fuel for witness.

You are, by definition of your calling, a priest: someone sent to stand at the intersection of the holy and the human, to make the invisible God visible in the texture of your ordinary days. Your life, regardless of its apparent significance in the world’s accounting, is a royal priesthood. You were called out of darkness for the purpose of declaring light. Not someday. Now. Here. In this neighborhood, this family, this workplace, this ordinary week.

  1. What does it mean for you to live as part of a “royal priesthood”?
  2. How can your ordinary life make God’s goodness visible to others?
  3. Where is God asking you to represent his presence more intentionally?

Pastor Andreas Beccai - Crosswalk Redlands

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

MISSIO-DEI-DAILY-STUDY.pdf
MISSIO-DEI-GROUP-GUIDE.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Grupo.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Serie.pdf

Daily Study Podcast

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WK3-Mon | Perspective
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

]]> https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/07/missio-dei-wk4-fri#comments 0 Missio Dei: WK4 - THU https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/06/missio-dei-wk4-thu Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://crosswalkvillage.com/blog/2026/08/06/missio-dei-wk4-thu
EQUIPPED TO GO
Ephesians 4:11-13 (NLT) “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, fully developed in the Lord.”

The church has often read this passage upside down.

The typical reading goes like this: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are the elite corps of ministry professionals who do the work while the rest of the congregation supports them. The gifted few carry the mission. Everyone else serves as a kind of base camp.

But that’s not what Paul says. He says the role of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers is to equip the people of God to do the work. The ministry professionals are not the point. They are the preparation for the point. The point is every member of the body, deployed and equipped for mission in the specific sphere of life they inhabit.

Anne Sullivan did not build an institution. She invested in one student: Helen Keller. Through relentless patience and unconventional methods, she helped Keller, who was blind and deaf learn to communicate, then to think, then to write, then to become a voice heard around the world. Sullivan’s legacy is not measured in what she produced directly. It is measured in who she equipped, so the greatest thing she ever built was someone else.

This inverts the typical power structure of religious institutions. The congregation is not the audience for the pastor’s performance. The congregation is the mission force, and the pastor is the trainer. The gathered time on morning is not the main event. It is the preparation for Monday, when the equipped people of God scatter into workplaces and neighborhoods and families and schools and are the primary carriers of the kingdom’s presence in the world.

The church is most fully itself not when everyone is gathered but when everyone is sent. The gathering is for the purpose of the sending. Your work is not secular. Your neighborhood is not outside the mission. The equipped person who goes out Monday morning is the thing the gathered time was building.

  1. Who has helped equip you spiritually or personally?
  2. How does your everyday work become part of God’s mission?
  3. In what ways can you help equip others instead of simply doing everything yourself?

Pastor Andreas Beccai - Crosswalk Redlands

Download PDF Versions of our Series Guides

MISSIO-DEI-DAILY-STUDY.pdf
MISSIO-DEI-GROUP-GUIDE.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Grupo.pdf
Missio-Dei-Guia-de-Serie.pdf

Daily Study Podcast

WK3-Wed | Perspective
Sep 9, 2026
WK3-Tue | Perspective
Sep 8, 2026
WK3-Mon | Perspective
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CRSWLK Kids Daily Devotional

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Perspective: Kids - W3, Tuesday
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Perspective: Kids - W3, Monday
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The Abide Daily Podcast

Isaiah 50:4-5 | Listening To Our Master
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Romans 6:3-11 | Submerged In The Reality & Perspective Of Christ
Sep 8, 2026
Lamentations 3:21-24 | Great Is His Faithfulness
Sep 7, 2026
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Thank You for Supporting the Ministry of Crosswalk

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