Cedarville Magazine Spring-Summer

Chapel Notes

Peter Greer

March 12

As I was living in Rwanda, I had my eyes

opened and my heart broken to the fact that

I missed in Scripture something that has

happens when we understand what Christ has

done for us. I had my eyes opened to the fact

that, even in the Old Testament, so many of

the laws were to care for the widow, the poor,

and the oppressed. In Psalms and Proverbs,

we are called to respond to the cries of the

needy. When you read Matthew, Mark, Luke,

and John, Jesus found Himself at the margins

of society and invites us to join in.

When Peter and Paul are separating ways,

the last recorded conversation in Galatians

2:10 is “Remember the poor.” As there

were famines and plagues, the early church

responded with the greatest amount of

generosity.There has been a pattern in history,

and when I was in college, I missed it. If my

heart has been captivated by the message of

grace (the Gospel), I want everyone to hear

about that, but also I want to show care and

compassion for the downtrodden and those

in poverty.

Peter Greer

is the President and CEO

of HOPE International in Lancaster,

Pennsylvania. HOPE provides the

impoverished in 17 countries the tools

to thrive economically by teaching them

how to run businesses and save money,

and providing commercial loans. HOPE

does this while keeping evangelism and

discipleship at the heart of its mission.

Russell Moore

February 25

In Luke 3, John [the Baptist] stands as

a prophet and gives a vision of God: who

God is, what the world is moving to in God’s

purposes. He is shaking us out of what we

assume to be normal. John hits hard at the

issue of the deception behind sin. He says,

“You think that you don’t have anything to

worry about. You assume that tomorrow is

going to be just like today. But there is a day of

accounting, a day of judgment you do not see.

“And don’t,” he says, “assume that

somehow you are exempt from this because

you are children of Abraham, because God

can raise up from these stones children for

Abraham.” He says, “You need to recognize

and understand that you are in the process of

being deceived.”

If you and I are carrying the Gospel to

whatever sorts of places and whatever sorts

of avenues that God has called us to, we are

called to break the deceiving power of the

devil, and the way that we are to do that is to

start within our own hearts.

Russell Moore

is the President of the

Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

of the Southern Baptist Convention. He

has authored several books including

the forthcoming

Onward: Engaging the

Culture Without Losing the Gospel

. He

has spoken on religious issues at The White

House and in multiple United States Senate

committees.

Ronnie Floyd

April 8

Everyone wants to be exalted. And the way

we think we’re exalted is if we take care of it

ourselves. But God says if you want to be up,

you need to lower yourself before Me. You’ve

got to go down before God before God might

choose to take you up with Him.

I ask you students, have you humbled

yourself before God lately? When was the last

time you bent on a knee and humbled yourself

before God?When was the last time you cried

out to God and told Him, “God, I need you so

desperately”? And it wasn’t just in a song, but

in the depths of your prayer and the depths of

need in your life?

I challenge you today, when you walk

through tough times in your life and

when your future is uncertain, don’t be an

egomaniac and try to fight your way forward.

If you want to go forward, you humble

yourself before God. And you let God speak

to your heart, even while you are humbling

yourself before Him.

Ronnie Floyd

is the President of the Southern

Baptist Convention (SBC) and the Senior

Pastor of Cross Church in Springdale,

Arkansas. Floyd has been a pastor 36 years,

27 of those at Cross Church, the largest

congregation in Arkansas. He is former

SBC Executive Committee Chairman and

a former SBC Program and Structure Task

Force member.

“THE WORD OF GOD

CALLS US OUT OF

OUR SPIRITUAL

‘HIDING PLACES’ ...

THAT LIGHT COMES

FORWARD AND

BREAKS THE POWER

OF DECEPTION.”

Nov. 13

9Marks Conference

Danny Akin

President of Southeastern Baptist

Theological Seminary

Wake Forest, North Carolina

Sebastian Traeger

Executive VP of the Southern Baptist

Convention’s International Mission Board

Washington, D.C.

Greg Gilbert

Sr. Pastor of Third

Avenue Baptist Church

Louisville, Kentucky

“GOD CAN DO