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Today’s Devotion is reprinted from “ReDiscover Christmas: Advent Reading Plan” produced by Outreach.com

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. —1 Peter 1:3-4
It was the night before the Christmas Eve service when church organist Lewis Redner came up with the tune to “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Waking in the night, he felt like he had heard the whisper of an angel, and he wrote down the melody of the beloved carol we still sing nearly 150 years later.

The lyrics were a poem written by Phillips Brooks, minister at Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia. Several years later, in 1865, Brooks had visited Bethlehem on horseback during a trip to the Holy Land. He saw shepherds tending their flocks in the countryside surrounding the small village and attended a Christmas Eve service in the Church of the Nativity. He remembered the moving experience several years later as he prepared for Christmas Eve worship. Brooks and Redner thought their combined composition would only be sung for that evening’s service, but, as we know, the song quickly spread and endured.

Among the song’s beautiful lyrics is this line: The hopes and fears of all the years / Are met in thee tonight. It’s a reminder that no matter how great the fear—even the fears of all history—the hope that Christ brings is greater. In Jesus, hope overcomes all our fears, and this hope is alive. Peter calls it a living hope. Because Christ has come to live and die and rise again, this hope of life conquers the fears of death. Because of Jesus, when fear and hope collide, hope wins.

Apply: How is fear darkening your life? How can you grab hold of this living hope in Jesus?

Today’s Devotion is reprinted from “ReDiscover Christmas: Advent Reading Plan” produced by Outreach.com

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
—Isaiah 40:31

The pictures show him sharply dressed in a navy blue blazer, decorated with mil- itary medals, behind the walker that he uses to get around. That walker didn’t stop Captain Sir Tom Moore. Neither did his 100 years of age. Captain Tom, as he became famously known, walked 100 laps around his backyard and became a viral sensation who raised $40 million for the British health care system in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It started as a challenge from his son-in-law and went viral when posted to a fundraising website. Captain Tom’s sense of steady perseverance inspired Great Britain during a time it needed hope. “The first step was the hardest,” Captain Tom told reporters after. “After that, I got into the swing of it and kept on going.”

Isn’t that always true? The first step is always the hardest. But hope gives us the push to get going. Captain Tom began walking with the hope that he might be able to help someone. Hope spurs us to take that first step in a difficult time. Hope enables us to keep walking, one more step at a time. And hope sustains us with the vision that there is a better ending. Isaiah reminds us that
our strength is renewed when we put our hope in the Lord. The hope that Christ has brought into the world allows our spirit to soar like an eagle. It fuels us to keep walking, one step at a time.

Apply: Where is hope leading you? What is the next step God is leading you to take this Christmas season?

 

Today’s Devotion is reprinted from “ReDiscover Christmas: Advent Reading Plan” produced by Outreach.com

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. —Romans 8:24-26

Have you ever seen the movie A Christmas Story? You know, the one with Ralphie and his friend who gets his tongue stuck to a frozen flagpole? The 1983 holiday classic centers around Ralphie’s longing for a Red Ryder BB gun. He has built it up as the be-all, end-all of his nine-year-old existence, and there is nothing he wants more. For most of the movie, other people, including a department store Santa, pour cold water on his dream, but he continues to keep hope alive. When Christmas morning comes, it seems Ralphie’s hope is crushed when all the presents are opened and there is no Red Ryder. Spoiler alert: Of course, there is one more hidden gift, and Ralphie’s greatest wish comes true. At that point, Ralphie doesn’t need hope anymore. He can’t hope anymore. His hope is fulfilled. As Paul writes, “Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?” Paul is talking about the completion of God’s work within and around us, the fulfilled restoration of our bodies and souls and all of creation. Paul explains that this is reality already, made possible because Jesus has come, and lived, and died, and risen. Now, with help from His Spirit, we wait patiently to see His work fulfilled. This was the promise God gave at the beginning and continued through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the history of the Jewish people. Our hope is fulfilled in Jesus.

Apply: What is your deepest hope this Christmas? What step can you take to experience the strength of God’s Spirit to renew hope and realize His work all around us?

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Miss Thanksgiving worship?  Here is the link to watch!
THANKSGIVING EVE WORSHIP

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The irony of Black Friday…

Just as you are finishing a day of thanksgiving and reflecting on all the blessings God has given in the past year, focus shifts to the pile of advertisements or emails that call your name to…go buy more stuff!

You would think that after a day of thanksgiving would come a day of contentment…at least an hour or two.

Truth be told, I have gotten up early, stood in line, and been one of the first in a door to get a special on Friday morning.  However, it does lead me to pause and ask, “Is the purpose of Thanksgiving to end one year of accumulating stuff with gratitude, only to start another year of accumulating stuff?

Of course it isn’t, but it’s easy to go there.

The purpose of giving thanks isn’t to GET more; the purpose of giving thanks is to GIVE more.

The Apostle Paul inspired by God’s Spirit, puts this into perspective.

2 Corinthians 9:10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

Remember who gave you all you have in the first place…God is the one who “supplies seed to the sower and bread for food.”  As the “Common Doxology” says, “Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.”  Giving thanks realizes all I have is a gift of God.

Then what happens?

God continues to give…for a purpose.

1. To “enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” The goodness of God leads me to do the good God encourages.  The generosity of God, not only in material things, but in the spiritual (especially what God has given to me in the grace of Jesus) is the motivation to produce fruits of faith.
2. To enable us to be generous on every occasion. God is a giver.  He wants his people to be givers as well.  Jesus condemned the rich farmer who just wanted to take his bumper crops and build bigger barns and store everything up for himself. His life was taken from him.  Jesus concluded that parable with the words, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).
3. To lead others to give thanks to God as well. Just as we have been God’s message to share with others, we have been given a portion of God’s possessions to share with others.  When we love others by sharing the blessings we have received, others give thanks…not to us…but to God.

Paul continues in 2 Corinthians 9 of what happens when we give thanks…and give more:

2 Corinthians 9:12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

So this “Black Friday” remember the greatest gift you received on “Good Friday”.  May this “indescribable gift” lead you to give thanks…AND give thankfully!

Apply: Perhaps in your shopping this weekend think of someone who has a need which you can bless with a generous gift, simply to show them the love of Jesus.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for giving so generously to me all things physical and spiritual.  Enlarge my heart of gratefulness so I can be generous on every occasion. AMEN.

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Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “Thoroughly Equipped”
Week 4 of 4: “Christ Who Rules Over Us!”
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL

THIS WEEK: Five Reasons to Give Thanks!

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Happy Thanksgiving Day!

The history of this day travels back to the 1600s and the celebration of the Pilgrims after a harsh trip to the new world and a challenging winter that claimed the lives of many of the original group.  Finally after a harvest was brought in, they paused to give thanks for the providence of God and the blessings he had provided.

Fast forward over 100 years to October 3, 1789 and a national day of Thanksgiving was declared by our first president, George Washington.  Here’s what he wrote:

By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

 

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

 

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

 

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

 

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.  Go: Washington

As an American, I am grateful our country still believes it’s important to have a day of Thanksgiving.  I pray it is not simply a “thanks for not having to go to work today,” but a genuine day of thanks as our first president encouraged.  I also pray that we as a nation seek pardon for our transgressions.  Give thanks for ALL the blessings God has given and pray for the favor of the Lord to remain on our land.

As a Christian, I also pause to reflect on all the reasons God has given me to give thanks, not just today, but each and every day.  Perhaps a few verses from Colossians 3:15-17 help:

^{Colossians 3:15-17 15} Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

For what do we have to give thanks?  And what enables us to live today and every day “giving thanks to God the Father”?  Here are three reasons:

1. We have been given the Peace of Christ to rule in our hearts…no matter the external circumstances.
2. We have been given the Word of Christ to dwell in our souls…to speak wisdom and guidance to faith and life.
3. We have been given the Name of Christ to identify us as a child of God and give us a reason to do everything with gratitude and thanksgiving.

Enjoy your day…given thanks today and always!

Prayer: O give thanks to the LORD for he his good, his mercy endures forever. AMEN!