March 22, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

As Isaac nears the end of his life he wants to bless Esau.  Esau had sold this birthright to Jacob but Isaac still intends on giving it to Esau, his favorite. Rebekah learns of this plan and plans to trick Isaac into giving the blessing to Jacob instead.  Let’s look at the account together today. 

Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.” 11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12 What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.” 13 His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.” 14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. 18 He went to his father and said, “My father.” “Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?” 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”20 Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”  “The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied. 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.” 22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him.

As a boy this story always troubled me.  God makes a great nation out of Jacob and his descendants, but Jacob tricks his father and lies to him to receive this blessing.  The more I learned the more I realized that this story is more about God than about us.  God’s blessings don’t come because we have earned or deserve them.  God’s blessings come because of His abundance of love and grace in our lives.  Deep down we all have a sense of needing to perform to earn God’s love and blessings but the Bible clearly paints us a picture of God’s unmerited favor for us time and again.  Today take a moment to thank God for His amazing grace in your life. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


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March 21, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Isaac continues to operate under the great covenant the God made with his father, Abraham.  He knows that a great nation will come from his line and his people.  His firstborn sons are twins but are quite different.  With Mom and Dad each having a clear favorite.  Let’s read the account together today. 

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. 27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) 31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

This is a quick but very significant portion of scripture.  A birthright was given to the firstborn and with this birthright a blessing was handed down.  This blessing would be the Covenant that God had made with Abraham.  Esau flippantly sells his to Jacob because he is hungry.  He knows that he is Isaac’s favorite and probably assumes he will receive the blessing anyways.  This makes light of God’s great promise however and has significant consequences in the life of both Jacob and Esau.  God does indeed make a great nation out of Jacob.  He even renames him Israel.  Jacob’s sons become the twelve tribes of Israel.  Esau however become an outsider to that great blessing.  For us today the significance is how important little choices can be in our lives.  Esau didn’t think twice about selling his birthright because he thought he would get it anyways.  When we make flippant choices they often can have lasting consequences.  We all probably have a story or two about that.  Esau serves as a reminder to trust in God’s great plan for us and not make decisions that waver from that.  We also have a great promise from God that we are His children who get to receive the blessings of His birthright.  When we do follow His plans we get to experience the greatness of the blessings that He has for us.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


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March 20, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Have you ever noticed how, whether you like it or not, you end up picking up some of your parents habits or mannerisms?  Isaac certainly has the same issue.  He just has heard from God that God will be with him and bless him and his descendants.  He decides that God’s promise is not good enough and out of fear he tells people that his wife, Rebecca is his sister.  Does this sound familiar?  Let’s look together at the account found in Genesis 26.   

The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” So Isaac stayed in Gerar. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.” When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.” 10 Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

This story to me teaches us a few different things.  First, we all need to trust in the promises of God and not try and take matters into our own hands.  As parents or grandparents we need to realize that we are leaving a legacy for those generations behind us.  Through what we say and teach, but more importantly, through how we act and live.  I’m certain that if Abraham knew Isaac would have the same struggle as him he might have had a second thought and trusted God more.  May we all learn from this and realize that our choices impact more than just our own lives.  Our choices are a legacy that we pass down to future generations.  May we all leave a legacy of great faith and trust in God.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


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March 17, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Today we conclude our story of Abraham with him seeking to carry on the Covenant through his son Isaac.  He wants a woman from his own country and not the Canaanites to marry Isaac.  He entrusts his highest servant with the task of finding this woman.  Let’s look at the story together today.

Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. “The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter. 10 Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. 11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. 12 Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” 15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. 16 The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”18 “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. 19 After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.”

Abraham had clearly passed his legacy of faith on to his servant who prays that God will help him in this difficult task.  Before he even finished his prayer God has answered it.  This is clearly not the way this had worked previously in the life of Abraham but God does this last thing so that Abraham can die knowing his line will be carried on through Isaac and Rebecca.  God did remarkable things in and through the life of Abraham.  Sometimes through Abraham’s faithfulness and other times despite his lack of faith.  The reality is that God wants to do great things in and through our lives as well.  He simply wants us to be willing. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


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March 16, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Have you ever been around one of those people that just had a presence everyone is drawn to.  People want to be around them and do things for them.  I have noticed that often this occurs in people that show love the way God calls us to love.  Abraham clearly has this type of presence because throughout his life people do things above and beyond the normal for him.  Let’s look at one such account which occurs when Sarah dies and Abraham seeks to bury her. 

Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” The Hittites replied to Abraham, “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.” Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. He said to them, “If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.” 10 Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. 11 “No, my lord,” he said. “Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”

In that culture land was the utmost commodity.  No one wanted to be buried on foreign land but on their own land.  There were even instances where some would gouge prices to sell to others for them to bury their dead.  Instead because of who Abraham is people want to give him valuable land.  That’s the effect God’s love has on the world.  When we love others the way God calls us to people are down to that.  It gives us a platform to share more about God and the love that He freely offers.  Today make it a point to love others the way God calls us to love and see what opportunities He gives you to point people to Him.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


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March 15, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Have you ever witnessed someone grow tremendously in their faith.  It truly is a remarkable and beautiful thing.  God paints us such a picture of Abraham’s growth in the Bible.  He goes from someone who twice lies and says his wife is his sister to a man willing to sacrifice his only son.  Let’s look at the account together found in Genesis 22.

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

I can not imagine the faith it took as he tied up his son and placed him on the altar.  Perhaps Abraham believed that God would stop him.  Perhaps he knew that God would provide the sacrifice in his place.  No matter what his thoughts were the point is that he acted in faith.  He completely and totally trusted God.  So many things creep into our lives that limit our faith.  We rely upon our own strength and resources instead of God.  We trust our own wisdom instead of His.  Abraham had finally gotten to the point in his life where he completely trusted God.  I pray that we would all get to this same place in our own lives.  A place where we completely and totally trust God, even in the face of immense challenges. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


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March 14, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Have you ever waiting on God for something?  Think back to all that has happened in Abraham’s life since God promised to make a great nation out of his descendants back in Genesius 15.  Finally, Abraham sees God’s promise come true with the birth of Isaac.  Let’s look at the account in Genesis 21.

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

God’s timing is often different from ours.  I have had friends who have prayed for things for years before they finally saw God act.  Then I have also seen God answer prayers immediately.  The point is that His timing is always perfect for His plan.  When we learn to wait on Good and depend upon Him our strength and faith grows.  Abraham grew from a man who continually tried to take matters into his own hands to a man whose faith was so strong he is known for it.  I pray that we all would learn to patiently wait upon God and allow Him to grow our faith in amazing ways.  

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave


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March 13, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Abraham continues to move about the land of Canaan looking for where he will ultimately settle.  Once again he fails to trust in God’s protection and tells the king of the land that Sarah is his sister.  She is taken away and the following account is what happens after God tells Abimelek that he will be killed for taking a married woman. 

Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” 10 And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?” 11 Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ 12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” 14 Then Abimelek brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelek said, “My land is before you; live wherever you like.” 16 To Sarah he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, 18 for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

God is consistently looking out for Abraham even when he doesn’t do the right thing.  That’s the thing about sin.  It never changes God.  God’s grace is bigger than our sin.  The problem with sin is that it separates us from God on our end.  We feel farther from God and disconnected.  The truth is that He never leaves us.  God’s covenant with Abraham is not effected by Abraham’s sin.  God demonstrated that when he fulfilled both sides of the covenant that he made with Abraham in Genesis 17.  God longs for our obedience not because it effects how He views us.  He longs for it because it is a demonstration of our love for Him.  Today show your love for Him by your obedient heart.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


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March 10, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Have you ever found yourself attached to a place or a group of people who you knew were bad for you?  Perhaps you knew their influence wasn’t a positive one but you still had an attraction to be around them.  This is what happens with Lot and Sodom.  He knows the wickedness of the people.  They even ask to abuse the Angels that visit Lot in his house.  The Angels want to take Lot and his family away but they hesitate and don’t want to leave.  Finally, by the grace of God the Angels actually take them away by force before they destroy the city.  Let’s look at the account from Genesis 19 together today. 

12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” 14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. 15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. 19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” 21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Lot’s wife become a casualty of this rescue because she holds on to the past and looks back to the city she is sad to leave and she turns to a pillar of salt.  Isn’t it crazy that sometimes we try and resist the grace and protection of God?  That is what happens when we indulge the flesh in our lives.  Web begin to crave the flesh more than we crave the spirit or the grace of God.  Lot and his family loved the riches and the pleasures of Sodom.  They may not have been as wicked as others around them but they still embraced the life of wickedness there.  Over time they began to desire that over a life of being led and protected and guided by God.  Even in being rescued from death Lot demands the security of another city instead of simply trusting God.  It is easy to see Lot’s errors but often we do the same thing in life.  We desire, power, wealth, success and we seek after those things sometimes more than we seek after God.  Let us not fall into the trap of Lot but let us seek first the kingdom of God. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


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March 9, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

As promised, today we look at the story of Abraham arguing for God to try and save Lot and any other righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah.  If you remember the story, there are no righteous people in the cities and the cities are destroyed.  Lot is only saved because Angels drag him out of Sodom along with his family.  Let’s look together at Abraham’s role in all of this found in Genesis 18. 

Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

The persistence and boldness of Abraham teaches us a bit about prayer.  Abraham knows and acknowledges that he is nothing and over and again pleads with God until God agrees to save the cities if even 10 righteous people are found.  Abraham knows that God is just and good so he pleads with Him again and again.  In the end Lot is rescued even when he didn’t want to leave because of God’s compassion for Abraham and his persistence in his conversation with God.  This is how we should pray.  Acknowledging God’s place and ours before Him while still boldly presenting our requests because we know how much God loves us.  Today, humbly and boldly approach the throne of your God.  He loves you and wants the best for you. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


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