Happy Thanksgiving! Today take a moment and reflect on Psalm 136.  Perhaps “rewrite” David’s words with some of the things God has done in your life and make it your prayer of Thanksgiving today. 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.

2 

Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.

3 

Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.

4 

to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.

5 

who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.

6 

who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.

7 

who made the great lights—
His love endures forever.

8 

the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.

9 

the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.

10 

to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.

11 

and brought Israel out from among them
His love endures forever.

12 

with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
His love endures forever.

13 

to him who divided the Red Sea[a] asunder
His love endures forever.

14 

and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures forever.

15 

but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures forever.

16 

to him who led his people through the wilderness;
His love endures forever.

17 

to him who struck down great kings,
His love endures forever.

18 

and killed mighty kings—
His love endures forever.

19 

Sihon king of the Amorites
His love endures forever.

20 

and Og king of Bashan—
His love endures forever.

21 

and gave their land as an inheritance,
His love endures forever.

22 

an inheritance to his servant Israel.
His love endures forever.

23 

He remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.

24 

and freed us from our enemies.
His love endures forever.

25 

He gives food to every creature.
His love endures forever.

26 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

I have often thought it was very interesting how so much scripture comes from stories that have been told.  The Gospels record stories told by or about Jesus.  Much of the Old Testament is recorded from stories that were told from generation to generation.  Acts is the story of the unfolding of the early church.  Many of Paul’s letters were written after he heard stories of the churches he had started in various cities.  Let’s look at I Thessalonians 3 together today and see the power of a story.

But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

Paul is encouraged because Timothy has brought him the story of how the church is doing.  This encouragement serves to grow Paul and Timothy’s faith and embolden them for even more ministry.  This gets me thinking about the power of story.  When we share our stories with others of how God is at work in our lives it encourages and strengthens others.  I think we sometimes underestimate the power of story.  We all have a story.  This Thanksgiving weekend take a moment and thank God for yours and share a story with others of how God is at work in your life.  You may be surprised at just how much He uses that to encourage someone else.

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave

I remember a friend of mine who went away to college and then seminary.  He came back with deep theological convictions and he preached very boldly.  The problem was his life didn’t match his message.  It wasn’t an issue of moral struggle in fact he had become almost pharisaical in his behavior.  He just didn’t show any of the love that he was talking about Jesus having for us in his life.  After observing this for a while I spoke with him about it.  His response to me was that he really wanted to live the type of life that Paul lived amongst the Thessalonians church but he just really disliked people.  Let’s look at I Thessalonians 2 together today and then I’ll tell you what happened.

Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. 13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

Paul talks about not only the importance of the message of the gospel but living it out amongst those he is proclaiming it to.  My friend realized that as much as he was deeply convinced of the theological truths of Scripture he was struggling to truly love God and in turn love His people.  He went away to another church’s spiritual retreat where he wouldn’t be called on as a leader but could simply be.  He came home overwhelmed with a newfound sense of God’s love for him.  He is today one of the most effective communicators I know and actually a very loving and friendly guy (unless you are watching college football with him).  That’s the work that God does in our hearts and lives.  He changes us from the inside out.  That’s when we can most effectively share His love with the world when we are proclaiming it and living it!

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

It is always awesome when you hear a story of God working in powerful ways in a person’s life.  Paul tells us of the church in Thessalonica and how they are being used in great ways.  It also serves as a reminder that God wants to use us all in such a way.  Let’s look together at I Thessalonians 1 today.

6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

The power of the gospel changes us, fills us with the Holy Spirit, and God’s message should flow from our lips and through our lives.  We simply share God’s love and tell the story of what He has done for us.  He is responsible for the results.  I pray that we would all be used by God like He used the Thessalonian church.   May we all be faithful in sharing His love and His message with the world.

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Have you ever considered that every conversation we have in a given day is an opportunity? It’s an opportunity to either build someone up or introduce them to the gospel. Paul reminds us in Colossians 4 to take advantage of every opportunity we have and to make sure our conversations are always full of grace. Let’s look at his words together today. 

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

We are reminded to pray for opportunities to proclaim the mystery of Christ and also not miss a chance to do just that. I hope that throughout a day I encourage people or share the gospel when I get a chance but I also think of all of the meaningless conversations I might have as well. It’s okay to talk about the weather of sports or whatever else might be the topic of conversation but we should also be reminded that every conversation is an opportunity. You never know when someone needs a word of encouragement or a gentle reminder of God’s goodness. I love Paul’s words – may all of our conversations be full of grace. 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Have you ever begun thinking about something and not been able to get it out of your mind? I know this has happened to me a time or two. You begin thinking and focusing and dreaming about something and it begins to become a part of you. What if we focused our thoughts this way around God? Let’s look at what Paul says about this in Colossians 3.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

When your heart and mind are focused on something it naturally changes the way you act. The athlete who wants to excel begins working harder at their sport. The person focused on losing weight exercises and eats better.  Someone who wants to change a bad habit works and strives and hopefully breaks themselves of it. When we are focused on God and our faith and our hearts and minds are set this way we naturally will change some of our actions. We are no longer focused on pleasing ourselves and our own desires but instead long to please God. This is why Paul reminds us to set our minds on things above. When we surround ourselves with others who also point us toward God, we listen to praise music or Christian podcasts to encourage us, engage in church and small groups to help build us up all of the sudden our mind is more fixed and focused. Through God’s strength may we all set our hearts upon Him, His heart is certainly fixed upon us.

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Hello Advent Family,

Have you ever tried to pull up a weed or a bush that had deep roots?  It might not look like much but then next thing you know you can’t budge it.  I remember my buddy once tried to pull out a small tree by wrapping a chain around his number and then around the tree and driving away.  I’ll skip the details but I’ll simply say Tree – 1 Bumper -0.  The Bible talks about how our faith should be rooted and strong in a similar fashion.  Let’s look at an example of that found in Colossians 2 today. 

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

In Jesus’ parable of the sower He talks about the differences between shallow faith and deep faith.  Life is going to present us all with things that test our faith.  When we are “rooted” in Christ we can stand firm when those hard times come.  What does it look like to be rooted in our faith?  That means it is healthy.  We are feeding ourselves spiritually so we will grow strong and deep.  We are surrounding ourselves with other followers of Jesus who encourage us in our faith and help us to grow.  We are serving to use our spiritual gifts and build our spiritual muscles.  When we are rooted like this, we will stand strong through the storms of life and not be moved.  I pray that we all dig deep roots of faith in our lives.

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Hello Advent Family,

Have you ever had someone pray for you and it just felt extra special and powerful. I can think of several times in my life where I have experienced this. Prayer is always powerful but sometimes it feels a little bit extra special.  I can remember a youth Pastor praying for me when I was facing a tough situation. I can remember a worship leaders prayers for me as I was about to step on stage and preach at a large conference for the first time. I can remember a lady form the church just knocking on my office door and asking if she could pray for me. These prayers can be an incredible blessing in our lives. The prayer Paul written in Colossians 1 feels extra special to me as well. I often have prayed this exact prayer for people in my life. Let’s look it together today.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

There is nothing particularly unique or groundbreaking in this prayer. To me, it simply feels complete. Paul asks for the church to receive knowledge, wisdom and understanding from the Spirit, to bear fruit, to be strengthened with all power, to have endurance and patience, and that they might give thanks to God.  He finally throws in a reminder about what Jesus has done and then goes on in chapter 1 to talk about how awesome Jesus truly is. If we can pray for each other in such a way and remind each other about just how awesome Jesus is I bet God would do some amazing things in and though our lives. May we be a people who pray boldly and mightily for each other. We all need it!

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Hello Advent Family,

Do you find that you are a glass have empty of a glass half full kind of person? I am definitely an optimist, in fact, some people get upset at me for being too positive. That’s a thought for another time but I wanted to talk today about our thoughts and how we have encouragement to focus on the positive when it comes to our faith life. Let’s look at Paul’s words in Philippians 4 together today.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

We are told to rejoice always and one way to do that well is to remind ourselves of the positive truths that God brings into each and every one of our stories. While our circumstances might bring challenges God is always with us. He loves us and wants the best for us. This truth can help us to rejoice no matter what we are facing in life. In the midst of hard times it is easy to focus on the negative. It is even easy to focus on the negative in the midst of day to day life. Paul’s encouragement to us all is to think about what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. I find that God and His works certainly fit all of those criteria. When we focus on those things rejoicing will come and anxiety will wane. Today be a glass half full person and focus on the great works of God in your life. 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave

Hello Advent Family,

What do you strive for? Maybe you work hard to be a good employee or boss. Perhaps you strive to be a good spouse or parent. The Apostle Paul talks about how he did strive to be worthy of God but his perspective changes from trying to achieve that and instead striving to know Jesus. Let’s look at his words in Philippians 3.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Paul’s perspective changes from trying to do and make himself worthy to resting in what Jesus has done. He finally recognizes that there is nothing we can do in and of ourselves to be found worthy of God’s grace and forgiveness but because of the work of Jesus on the cross we are made worthy through faith. The righteousness of Jesus is given to us. That should make all of us take Paul’s position and strive more and more to know Jesus, to experience His love more fully. May we all press on to take hold of that for which Jesus has taken hold of us.

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave