We all have walked through some difficult challenges in life.  Sometimes during the difficult times everything seems bleak and you can even feel hopeless.  Other times God gives us a glimpse of the rainbow through the rain.  We are blessed to be able to see the good that is happening through the difficulty we are walking through.  The reality is that God always uses our life, through good times and bad to bring about His ultimate good.  Paul went through lots of challenging times throughout his life but God gave him the gift to be able to see the beauty on the other side.  Let’s look at one such instance found in Philippians 1. 

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. 15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Paul is in prison and facing possible execution.  He doesn’t know what will happen but no matter what he sees the good that God can use the situation to do.  If he remains in prison others are emboldened to share the gospel more.  If he is put to death, he gets to be with Jesus in heaven for eternity.  If he gets out of prison he believes that God has more important work for him to do during his time on earth.  I would pray that we might have this type of vision and attitude when life inevitably throws us difficult times as well.  Paul’s attitude makes all the difference.  He sees the work of God as more important than his individual circumstances.  If you are walking through a challenging time today ask God to show you the rainbow through the rain.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

Do you ever have trouble making decisions? How do you weigh the pros and cons of a difficult choice?  Many of our decisions are not that significant in the big scheme of things like where should I go to lunch.  Other decisions have more lasting impact for us.  For awhile it was very popular to wear WWJD bracelets and shirts which was a good process to think about what Jesus might do in a particular situation.  Paul prays that we might have discernment so that we know what is best when we are faced with difficult choices in life.  Let’s look at this prayer one more time today. 

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

The thing about this type of discernment is that it comes from knowing God’s word and His will.  The only way we can accomplish that is to spend time with Him regularly.  When you spend lots of time with someone you get an idea what they might do in a given situation.  The only way for us to understand what Jesus would do is to spend lots of time with Him.  When we do that we don’t need a bracelet to remind us WWJD it just comes naturally to us.  I pray that we all would have the type of discernment that Paul is asking for and it would come naturally from the time we spend with Jesus. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

When you were growing up did you do the thing where you have a wall or a doorframe where you teach how tall you are and see how much you have grown?  That was always a thing in the Franklin household both when I was a kid and for my children as well.  It is fun to mark growth over the years and to see what has happened over time.  Paul prays in this prayer for our spiritual growth and in particular that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.  Let’s look at this prayer once again together today. 

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

The thing about growth is that there are things we can do to help it along.  With our physical growth we can eat healthy, get enough sleep, and even seek the care of a doctor if things are not progressing.  For our spiritual growth it is the very same.  I grew up singing a song that said, “read your Bible, pray every day and you will grow, grow, grow”.  There are other factors as well like surrounding ourselves with the right relationships that encourage our faith.  Regularly worshipping, and serving by using our spiritual gifts.  These things all contribute to our spiritual growth.  Perhaps we should have “marks” that chart our growth so that we can go back and see the work that God has done in our lives.  I pray that we would all continue to grow up spiritually and never stop growing. 

In His Grip,
APastor Dave

One of Jesus’ primary teaching while on earth was teaching us about loving others.  We are told to love our neighbors as ourselves.  We are challenged to love our enemies and pray for others when they wrong us.  We are asked to live at peace with everyone.  However we are given and even stronger command to love our fellow believers.  This is at Jesus’ very heart and its what He prays the most about in His high priestly prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Paul also talks about the special love that he has for those who share in God’s grace.  Let’s take another look at this passage from Philippians 1. 

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

As a parent it is one of the worst things when your children fight with one another and do not get along.  I often wonder if that is God’s experience is when He sees Christians fighting with one another.  Paul gives us this gentle reminder in his prayer of how much he loves his fellow followers of Jesus.  It is a reminder that we should feel the same love for one another. Instead of treating each other like fighting siblings we should be loving brothers and sisters looking to support one another. Today and every day seek to love those well who share with you in the grace of God. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

What are you confident in?  Do you have a particular talent or ability that you know you can rely upon.  Perhaps you have been blessed with good looks or a particularly sharp brain.  Maybe you always have a joke at the ready and you use that gift to diffuse tense situations.  Maybe you have been blessed with financial resources that give you a level of confidence.  Whatever you may have confidence in it feels good to be confident.  Paul had an uncanny confidence in God from seeing Him at work time and again.  His confidence in this prayer is that God will continue the work He has started in each and every one of our lives.  Let’s look at the prayer once again today.

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

God finishes what He started.  Paul has utmost confidence in this truth and so should we.  Our inheritance waits for us in glory with God.  It is something that we can trust with all confidence.  God’s work in our lives is not a one-time thing.  He continues to work in our lives each and every day.  He has plans for us and wants to use us to share His love and His message.  If there is one thing we can have total confidence in it is God.  I pray that this confidence that Paul has will rub off on us.  God is at work in your life!

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

This week I thought that we might do something a little bit different.  The following prayer found in Philippians 1 will be our text all week.  I encourage you to read the entire chapter or even the book of Philippians but for the next several days we will focus on verses 3-11.  This is one of my favorite prayers so let’s dig in!

I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Today I want to focus on partnership.  When you have a partnership there are people who are working alongside you and pitching in different ways.  I am thankful for the partnership of the people of Advent in the ministry of the gospel as well.  From inviting friends to church, to giving to support the ministry, to serving on Sunday morning, or leading or hosting a small group.  You all play an important partnership role in what happens at Advent.  I often think of all of the different things that come together to make Advent work.  Yesterday we celebrated the retirement of Roberto who has in many ways literally kept this place up and running for so many years through the maintenance work he has done.  I am truly grateful for all of you and your partnership in this incredible ministry.  May we continue to share the love of Christ through God’s strength in amazing ways. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a holiday with food, football, and family.  When I talk with others there are all different versions of how the day is celebrated.  It certainly is an opportunity to reflect and be thankful to God for all He has done.  When I was a child we would always sing Psalm 100 as a Thanksgiving praise.  I thought I would share this brief Psalm today and allow us all to reflect on it. 

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

    Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

I have found that throughout the years different parts of this Psalm have struck me.  I have reflected upon worshipping God with gladness.  I have contemplated what it means to know God.  I have thought about the fact that we are God’s we are the sheep of His pasture.  I have tried to be thankful for all of the things He has blessed me with and done in my life.  Recently I have been thinking about the fact that God is good and His love for me is an enduring love.  That means that He loves me through the ups and down of life.  He loves me when I am praising His name and He loves me when I am disappointing Him with my actions.  In the midst of all of his love for me we are reminded that God is good.  Perhaps we take this truth for granted but spend some time today thinking about that.  God is good!

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Another day another agricultural reference.  Have you ever thought about a farmer sowing seed?  There is actually a lot of work that goes into sowing a seed.  You must prepare the ground, place the seed into the right spot in the ground.  Then you must water and feed the seed as it grows allowing it to get sun and also keep weeds away and birds away from eating the seed.  Our point today is that there is work that is put in.  Paul wants to ask us all where are we “sowing our seed”?  Are we putting work in to pleasing our own flesh?  Or are we working to please the Spirit within us?  Let’s look at his words together today from Galatians 6.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Paul offers us encouragement to keep up the hard work of sowing to please the Spirit.  He wants us to not grow weary in this task because there is a harvest that awaits.  Just like the farmer that puts in all that work to reap the harvest at the end.  When we sow a life by the Spirit our life will produce the fruit of the Spirit.  We will have lives that build others up.  Lives that are filled with the love of God and others.  We will witness God using us to help others draw near to God and then we will experience generational fruit.  I pray that God would grant guys all this blessing.  Press on and do the work of sowing a life by the Spirit!

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

The Bible is filled with lots of references that are spot on for an agrarian society.  Harvests and crops, fishing, and the scattering of seeds.  One reference that I think we all get even today is when the Bible talks about fruit.  Fruit is the natural bi product that comes out of our life.  Galatians 5 talks about what it looks like when we produce fruit from the spirit within us verses the fruit that our flesh produces.  Let’s look at the passage together today.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Paul is not meaning to create exhaustive lists or formulas here.  He is simple pointing out that when we live by our flesh we produce sinful acts but when we live by the Spirit we produce lives of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self control.  I don’t know about you but that sounds like some good fruit that I would like to produce in and through my life.  I pray that through God’s strength we would be able to more and more have our lives look like that.  It will never be perfect, but the more we fill ourselves with the Spirit the more fruit we will see in our lives.  I pray that this Thanksgiving, mixed in with the turkey and gravy, would be a pile of fruit produced from each of our lives!

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

As we continue our journey through Galatians we get to chapter 5 where Paul addresses head on one of the big issues the Galatians are facing.  As these Gentile believers are coming to faith they have been experiencing pressure from Jewish believers to follow Jewish laws and customs as well.  One of the big issues is circumcision.  Jews are saying that to become a follower of Jesus, Gentiles must be circumcised.  Let’s look at Paul’s words on the subject together today.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Paul feel very strongly about this issue in fact if you read a little further in chapter 5 you will see just how strongly he feel about this.  There are a few keys in this scripture that are significant for us today.  First it is of crucial importance that we are trusting in Christ’s work in our lives and not in anything that we can do.  Once we go down the path of doing things to earn God’s favor we slide back into something completely different than salvation by grace through faith.  The second thing is Paul’s last sentence in this passage.  We must have faith that expresses itself through love.  Jesus, Himself, summed up what laws he wanted us to follow by saying to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength; and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  I pray that as followers of Jesus we might be known by our great faith expressed through love. 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave