The Crossroad

Original is from [Re]Connected

What you are about to read is a “vision” of sorts I had one spring day in 2007 as I was praying in the woods. My prayer is that it would give you a sense of the feeling that was experienced by the touch of the Master, and the depth of our guilt. -DK

I opened my eyes once more. Sand-colored stones and dirt were all I could see. Sweat dribbled down from my forehead to my nose and dripped to the ground. The sun was moving upward toward its high place in the sky. Already the heat was unbearable but that did not matter. I took another step. I had to. The heavy weight on my shoulder demanded it. I breathed heavily.

But it wasn’t my breathing I heard. No, what resounded in my ears was shouting. Mocking cries. Tzelav oto! Tzelav! Tzelav Yeshua! Foreign, halting tongues shouted too: Hinnei! Melekh haYehudim! Hinnei! One foreigner with confidence announced above the hubbub: Yeshua hazeh; Melekh haYehudim! And on it went. How I wished that I were deaf! To not hear the torments of this mob would be a blessing of the Holy One, Blessed be He. It…

The weight shifted. The burden increased. Flesh came against my side. Time slowed. I was released from my thoughts and could only know him who was against my side. Shuddering in the wind, this man leaned against me, increasing the burden of the cross. Yes, that’s what I was carrying: a cross. They had forced me to carry this curse, this shame, for a prisoner they had refused to treat properly.

This prisoner…no, this was wrong. He was the innocent one. It was these soldiers, this crowd, the voice with authority who should be carrying a cross to their deaths right now. It was I who should do the same. Every ounce of my being wanted to repudiate this cross. I didn’t want this man to die. I wanted to help him, though. Yet, as I helped him, I knew that every step I helped him make was another step closer to his death – I was as responsible for his death as this mob who cried out for it.

Tears joined the sweat. How could this go on? We began to ascend the hill. I had to focus more intentionally on my steps to make sure I didn’t fall. If I fell, it would be more pain…more suffering for the man. Oh that I could see the man on the other side of the crossbeam!  I looked down at my feet and watched as sweat and tears fell to the ground. But then there was something else: blood. Blood fell from beside me, from the man I was leading to death. It fell upon my feet. A voice cried out in my heart: “You are clean.” I would have fallen but for the call of that authoritative voice: Repha! I could stand still. Sali, Adoni, sali. Then all vision faded.

Hebrew: Tzelav oto! Tzelav! Tzelav Yeshua! Crucify him! Crucify! Crucify Jesus!
Hinnei! Melekh haYehudim! Hinnei! Behold! The king of the Jews! Behold!
Yeshua hazeh; melekh haYehudim! This is Jesus; the king of the Jews!
Sali, Adoni, sali. Forgive me, my lord, forgive me.

Baptism

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

 These words, some of the last recorded words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark (16:15-16), contain for us the command and expectation of the Savior that all who believe on His saving work are to be baptized. Matthew’s Gospel parallels this, commanding that those who are made disciples are to be baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” At the birth of the Church at Pentecost, Peter commanded those who were convicted and asked how they might respond to the Gospel, “Repent and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

Yet, these are not the only teachings on baptism in the Scriptures. There are some wondrous teachings that I shall allow to speak for themselves here:

Romans 6:1-4: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We
were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that,
just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we
too might walk in newness of life.

Galatians 3:25-29: But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Ephesians 4:4-7: There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Colossians 2:9-15: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In
him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands,
by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having
been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him
through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the
dead. And you, who
were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God
made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

1 Peter 3:18-22: For Christ also suffered
once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring
us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the
spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because
they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight
persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism,
which corresponds to this which now saves you is not as a removal of dirt from
the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Today, I am being baptized. After eleven years as a believer and follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, I am being baptized in obedience to His command, to share in the grace that comes from being part of His Body, His Bride, His Church. Even as I do this, I remember the words of Jesus to James and John, the sons of Zebedee in Mark 10:

Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are
asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized
with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

I am able. God help me.

“And you shall bear a son…”

…and call his name Jamal. At least, that’s what it would be if Dad was serious. Yesterday, after church, I went home only to hear the news: my mom is pregnant yet again. Needless to say, I’m very excited. This will be my parents’ fifth child and will basically upset the current balance between guys and girls in the family. I’m personally hoping for a boy, but, hey, I’ll just be glad to have another brother or sister. Life is such a gift and my family has been blessed with much of it.

Classes are going well. The L&T group is, as I said, great. The Hebrew students are a solid bunch, who have done excellent in their first two homework assignments (which are generally the most tedious). All that to say, this semester is good stuff. There are only two areas where I need to pick up the slack on: learning guitar and writing my queries. It is my hope to be able to learn to play guitar this semester, so I’m putting some time several days a week into shooting for it. I’m also in the process of writing queries to magazines, proposing a variety of article topics for publication. I’d like to do this so as to serve believers (whether teen guys, college students, pastors, or a more broad audience), and to start getting into the published world. Your prayers on that would be very much appreciated, for sure. At any rate, that’s all I’ve got for now (besides a pounding headache), so I’ll leave off with that.

S.D.G.

College Craziness

So, classes started today. But that was far from being the beginning of the college “craziness” that has become a central piece of my life in the last two years. In fact, I lived through the freshman orientation experience twice now, from both the place of a freshman and now as a student mentor. I was assigned to a focus group of ten freshmen ranging in major from Biblical Studies and Biblical Languages to Philosophy and Christian Ministries (Pre-Seminary/Missions). They are quite an amazing group and I have nothing to complain about from them and they have become, to me, a great group of people to hang with, talk with, and laugh with. So, if any of your guys read this, make sure we do so!

We did a lot of fun stuff…PISGAH, a river cruise in Pittsburgh, dinner-and-a-movie at the Waterfront, and a huge scavenger hunt/bonfire, along with some other things. About half of them are now registered in the Elementary Hebrew course that I am TA (teaching assistant) for. So, it’ll be great to get to know all of them better in the course of this semester.

In other news, I finished my first day of classes today. All of my classes look like they’ll be fun, with the exception of SCS 110 (Intro to Natural Sciences), but even that class doesn’t look like it will be too difficult (Praise God!). I have some great professors, great fellow students, and some really interesting books (Yes, I get to re-read The Chosen by Chaim Potok for a class).

At any rate, there is much to do and much energy to expend before the day is out. Do pray that I would be submissive to God’s will, attuned to His leading, and strongly inclined to look out for what He would have me do as I seek to serve Him.

S.D.G.

Preaching and God’s Goodness

I’m alive! And more so, I’ve preached my first genuine sermon that, by God’s grace, went very well. Pastor Banks of First Presbyterian Church of Freedom was very encouraging, exhorting me to press on and continue to grow in ministry. Unfortunately, due to my computer not wanting to cooperate, I was not able to record the sermon, which is a major disappointment to me and, I know, for some others. Though, if you want to hear it that badly, I’m more than happy to preach at you all anytime you like, though I can’t promise it’ll be the same sermon (it sounds different every time I preach it, whether to myself or others).

It struck me, though, as I was preaching, that it felt…like I was where I was intended to be, like home. Not necessarily meaning Freedom Presbyterian, but rather in preaching, I was at home. The gravity of what I was speaking from was certainly there, but equally present was this urgent desire to see this Word lived out by myself and those listening. Sadly, although many in the congregation at that point are fellow Geneva students, it is not something I’ll be able to see live out. I’ll have to trust God for that fruit, and be able to trust in His promises to bring the harvest forward. That shows me, though, that I wouldn’t make much of an itinerant preacher for certain. I want too much to see and aid the preaching to go into the practicing for me to be content with that for long.

So, in conclusion, brothers and sisters, take joy in Christ, put your confidence in His Gospel, rejoice in the fruits of His Gospel, and desire the loss of all things so that His grace may abound more and more in your life. Let’s do it!

S.D.G.

Last Reminder

Friends, Family, Brothers and Sisters:

Well, tomorrow is it. Tomorrow morning, I will be preaching my first Sunday morning sermon at First Presbyterian Church of Freedom in Freedom, PA. For those who are curious, I will be preaching from Philippians 3:1-12. Your prayers are requested and coveted because, frankly, they are essential. Charles Spurgeon credited the power of his preaching (which was far more powerful than I could ever hope to attain) to the people who were in the basement of his church praying every Sunday. So, you are an absolutely essential part to the ministry that God is going to do. Thank you in advance and I promise to get at LEAST an audio recording on the internet in the next few weeks, if not a video form (I’m going to attempt video, but we’ll see what happens).

Specifically, be praying for the following:

1. That I would speak the Word of God boldly and accurately.
2. That I would preach in a way that allows the Holy Spirit to convict, encourage, draw people to God.
3. That those in attendance would have their hearts prepared for by the Spirit to hear from Him.

Once again, thank you and may God bless you and lead you in your praying.

Yours in the Gospel,

David Ketter

Please Go to [Re]Connected

I’ve announced this previously, but with the recent posts and all, I’m going to bump up the awareness again. Since the vision of the Account was something that I felt God did not want me to continue at the present, I have begun blogging (consistently, too!) at [Re]Connected on discipleship, Biblical masculinity and a host of topics that, by God’s grace, will edify and challenge you as you pursue the God Who made you, loved you, and died for you and, with Christ, will give us all things. Thanks!