February 2, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

I’d like to spend the next week or so looking at the book of Isaiah.  Isaiah is one of the longest books in the Bible but I feel like it often gets overlooked.  It is full of a combination of great prophecy and a truly good synopsis of the way the people of Israel acted toward God in the Old Testament.  Let’s look together at one such synopsis in Isaiah 64.

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    that the mountains would tremble before you!

As when fire sets twigs ablaze
    and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
    and cause the nations to quake before you!

For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
    you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.

Since ancient times no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
    who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
    you were angry.
    How then can we be saved?

All of us have become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
    and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

No one calls on your name
    or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
    and have given us over to our sins.

Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
    We are the clay, you are the potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.

Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord;
    do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
    for we are all your people.

The people are struck with the goodness of God then forget and fall into sin.  They feel far from God after a season and pray to Him once again for help and to remember them.  This pattern is broken when many of the prophecies of Isaiah come true through the birth of Jesus and eventually His death and resurrection. That’s the beauty of this book.  Even in the midst of the rebellion and sin of the people of Israel God is at work on a plan to redeem them and us forever.  That is such a great picture of the love and grace of our great God.  It’s again summed up in Romand 5:8 – while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.  Today be reminded of the amazing grace of God and live your life for Him as a means of thanks for His incredible gift.

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

 


February 1, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Do you have a particular morning routine?  I do and I can get thrown off when I don’t quite get it right.  Today was one of those mornings where it was a struggle.  The morning at home went well but then I arrived at church and promptly spilled my coffee.  I walked back home to change my pants and realized I left my keys back at church and couldn’t get in.  I walked back to church and realized my keys were locked in the church office.  Luckily I found another early bird co worker who let me in. I grabbed my keys and walked back home to change.  Did a quick change and came back to church.  Then I realized that indeed my keys were yet again left behind in the pants pocket of the original pants.  Back home had to crawl in a window because once again locked out grabbed the keys and finally made it back sat down to write this devotional and told Alexa to play worship music.  Typically the newest worship mix plays but The first song I heard was an old Third Day tune that was one of my favorites it comes from the words of Psalm 36 so let’s look at that together today.  

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
    your justice like the great deep.
    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
    People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house;
    you give them drink from your river of delights.

For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

When that song played I started smiling.  Not only did the tune bring back some great memories but that’s the way God typically works.  None of my morning hiccups were big deals but often days that start like that can put you in a bad place mentally for the rest of the day.  This song and the reminder of God’s faithfulness was liking hitting a reset button on my day.  So today is off to a good start for me now.  I hope these verses and my story helps you off to a good start as well.  

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave



January 31, 2023

Hello Advent Family,
 
In many places in Scripture the church is referred to as the bride of Christ.  This concept was so prevalent that to this day we often refer to sister or daughter churches that were planted by other churches.  John goes as far as to address the book of 2 John to the lady.  Scholars believe this is the way he refers to the local congregation to which he is writing his letter. Let’s look together at his words to “the lady” which certainly are relevant for us today.
 
To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth— 2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love. 4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. 7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
 
John reminds us as he does in 1 John the importance of living lives of love and obedience to God.  He particularly focuses on having love within the congregation for one another.  He also gives a warning against false teaching.  Many people were coming along and teaching things contrary to the gospel.  Others were simply adding on to Jesus’ message.  John is reminding everyone of the simple truth of the gospel and the power that love has in our lives.  When we live lives of love we live out the message of the gospel.  My prayer is that this lady (the people of Advent) does that well.
 
In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


January 30, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

How do we show our love for God?  The Bible says that one of the most basic ways is through our obedience and our love for others.  John spells it out very simply in I John 5.  Let’s look at it together today.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

God doesn’t love us any more or any less based on our obedience to Him.  His love for us is perfect an unconditional.  Unfortunately our love is neither of those.  Two things happen when we obey God.  First we remain closer to Him.  While He never changes sin by it’s nature separates.  I remember when I was a child and I did something I wasn’t supposed to do.  I went and hid.  I left my parents presence and hid from them.  Adam and Eve did the very same thing in the Garden.  Sin separates. Not only does it create distance but we also feel differently.  Even though God remains with us and will never leave us we feel far from Him which often leads to even more sin.  It is a vicious cycle that keeps us from true joy in our relationship with God.  John reminds us that the commands of God are not burdensome.  It truly comes down to loving God and loving people.  We all will fall short at times but when we do remember to seek quick reconciliation with your God who has already forgiven you.  This will keep us from getting stuck in the cycle. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave



January 27, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Why do you love who you love?  Shared interests or experiences? Perhaps a mutual friend who brought you together? Maybe they have a trait that you really admire.  John tells us that there is a clear reason to love others. We love others because of God’s great love for us.  Let’s look at His words today in I John 4.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

John reminds us that loving others is our responsibility because of the fact that we are children of God.  We do not love others because of any redeeming quality that they have but we love them because they also are His.  After all God loves us not because of our own redeeming qualities but simply because He does.  We are told to love our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, and even our enemies.  This can be a challenging thing.  It’s easy to love the people who we are naturally drawn to.  It’s more challenging to love others that we aren’t.  That is the love that is important and life changing though.  Loving those that seem “unlovable” to us.  That type of love can really make a difference in someone’s life.  Today and every day make it a point to show love to someone who it is difficult for you to love and watch and see how God uses that in both their life and yours.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave



January 26, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Have you ever known or experienced someone who was all talk?  Maybe they made big promises or claims but never backed them up? We have all probably fallen short of what we said we will or can do before but for some it becomes a regular occurrence.  John warns us against doing this when it comes to loving others.  It’s one thing to say we love our neighbor but it is another thing to live it out.  Let’s look at his words together today.

11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

There is an older country song called A little less talk and a lot more action.  This is exactly what John is calling us to when it comes to loving others.  It’s amazing the impact small little actions make to a world that has come to expect very little love in their lives.  Letting someone cut you in the grocery line.  Paying for the coffee of the person behind you in line.  Complimenting someone genuinely.  Or bigger actions of serving others that really make a difference.  May we be people of action who follow the example of Jesus and show others our love by how we live.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave



January 25, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Have you ever tried to walk around somewhere when there was no light at all?  Maybe you were camping and it was the middle of the night and you didn’t have a flashlight.  Maybe you got up in the middle of the night and the power was out and you had to stumble around.  Or perhaps you have, like me, been caving and your headlamp went out while you were far away from your caving partner.  I can tell you first hand it is quite unsettling and disorienting.  You can try and feel your way around but you really won’t make much progress until you have light.  John compares this idea of stumbling around in the darkness to what is like when we have hate inside of us.  Let’s look at his words together today.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

We were created in the image of God.  The Bible tells us that God, in His very nature, is love.  That means that we are designed and created to be against of love.  When we harbor hate toward another person it is like going through life in the darkness.  We are blinded.  I literally was stuck in the cave without my light until I remembered that in my backpack I had a backup hand held light.  I turned that on and then I could move again.  I could make my way through.  When we find we are blind because we have hate we need to use our backup light.  God Is always with us to forgive us.  To remind us of His great love for us and to fill us again with love even for those we don’t particularly like much.  Do not allow hate to blind you in life but seek God’s great love and walk through life in the light of that love for Him and others. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

 



January 24, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Have you seen or experienced something so amazing that you just had to tell others about it?  That was what was going on in the early church.  People were so amazed at the work of Jesus in their lives that they couldn’t help but share with others in the hope that they might experience it as well.  I think that the church today has lost a bit of that.  We need to remember just how amazing the work of Jesus is in our lives and share that with others.  Let’s look at I John 1 for some encouragement today. 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

John is saying, “We have seen Jesus!  We have seen His work!  You need to experience it as well.”  It’s called the gospel because it truly is good news and good news deserves to be shared.  We share it not only because it is amazing but also because Jesus commands us to.  It is His parting message to us.  He leaves us with a job to be His ambassadors here on earth.  While we are here may we do that well and do it boldly.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave



January 23, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Have you ever had an enemy in your life?  Someone who intentionally and persistently was seeking out your downfall.  Playing sports my whole life you have rivalries where you try to defeat each other on the field but then you shake hands afterwards and even respect each other.  I’m talking about a true enemy.  The Bible tells us that we do have an enemy.  One who is actively seeking our undoing.  Let’s look together at Peter’s words about this today.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Our enemy prowls around like a lion looking to devour us.  This image is one that should put us on alert.  Too often I think we walk through life without thinking this way.  This is why hearing about people falling into temptation is so common.  They were not on alert.  You would never walk into a field casually if you knew there was a hungry lion prowling around there.  We need to remain alert and resist the temptations that the devil sends our way.  One of his biggest schemes is to get us to not think about him at all.  To live lives as followers of Jesus that are casual and passive.  We are called as Jesus’ followers to love God and love others with everything we have got.  We are called to share Jesus’ message with the world.  We are called to be the church, to be Jesus’ representatives for the world.  The more we live this kind of life the more our enemy will try and attack.  So be aware, be bold, be those Jesus has called us to be.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave



January 20, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

Throughout history people have always thought the end was near.  Even in the early church they often thought this.  The more important thing is that they lived as if the end was near.  When we live that way we tend to prioritize that which is most important and live lives aimed toward eternity not toward our temporary time on earth.  Peter taught that the end was near and gave instructions on how to live as a result.  Let’s take a look at his words today.

The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

This kind of living sounds pretty good to me.  Be ready, love well, use your gifts, speak boldly as if you have the words of God, serve with His strength.  I pray that we would live such lives.  Who knows when the end will come, but we all should live as though it is any day.  Carpe Diem, seize the day and seize it for God. 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave