The Silence

This year I'm once again writing out our Advent devotions for the lighting of the Advent candles at church. I will be posting each devotion here on the site. If you need some ideas for Advent in the future or you want to just copy and use these feel free. I have the previous years available also. Just look under the "Christmas" tag. Merry Christmas.

THE SILENCE

Isaiah 7:14 (New International Version)
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6-7 (New International Version)
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

Micah 5:2 (New International Version)
2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times."

For years the people of God had heard the prophecies. A child will be born. He will be called Wonderful, Mighty, Everlasting. They knew He was coming. The prophets of God had spoken truth for years. The people believed these things. They taught their kids about the one who was coming. They taught their grandchildren to believe the prophecies. Year after year they waited.

After a time the prophecies ended. The silence was almost deafening. The old prophecies didn’t seem to hold the same punch as they used to. Are they still valid? Surely this “special one” would have come by now. The silence lead to questioning. The questioning lead to doubt. The doubt lead to complacency in their worship, their relationships, and their lives.
We have an advantage today. We know that He came and His name was and is Jesus. We know that He lived a perfect life. We know he died on a cross and rose again. Because we know these things we also know that He is coming again one day. It may not be as quickly as we’d like but it IS going to happen.

This is a great way to begin the season of advent. We remember the first coming. We look forward to the second coming. We celebrate in the in between time!

Prayer

Father God, I know that you are from everlasting to everlasting. You are the same yesterday, today and forever. But as I enter this Advent season, it seems but yesterday that we celebrated the same things last year, and the year before. One Advent season seems to flow into another.

Lord, as we enter this Advent may I see beyond the busyness, the glitz and the glitter to a renewed awareness of your message of Advent. May I see Jesus, Immanuel - God with us. May I once again celebrate the birth of Christ with the expectancy of a new believer and the hope of one who believes that this same Jesus is coming again to establish peace, justice, and righteousness upon this earth made new. In the name of Jesus, The Prince of peace, AMEN.
(prayer written by Rev. Frank Hall)

best of all

This Sunday I am preaching on our identity in Christ. I'm kick starting the message by reading Max Lucado's children's book titled "Best of All". As I was reading this book it struck me that there were two types of people in this world.

1-People who need to know who they are.
2-People who need to know who others are.

One of the best ways to enter the Thanksgiving/Advent season is to realize that the ground at the cross is level. What I mean is, we all have the same access to a holy, almighty God that was provided by our gracious, merciful, savior Jesus. So I have no reason to look down on anyone else because we are all walking through this life together and need each other to continually point to our never ending need for that Savior.

Let's enter this season with an attitude of celebration. Celebrating the fact that God can and does use any or all of us to bring glory to Himself. Now that's a reason to be thankful.

Jesus wants the rose

Today I really had the urge to blog something but I really didn't know what. I've been reading and studying several passages in the Bible today and God really spoke some good stuff to me. I thought "I'll share some of that". I've also listened to some good music. I've spent some time with my son Micah. All of these things were good experiences and very blog worthy. But as I was preparing for Sunday's message I came across this video clip. It may be a little offensive to some. It may be a little distracting to others. However, the last few lines are worth the 4 minutes it takes to watch it. This video is not meant to promote anything or anyone other than Jesus himself and how much He loves you and me.



I hate that this type of thing happened in a church setting. I love church and as a pastor I am always trying to be creative in my attempts to communicate the gospel. My prayer for all of us is that in our efforts to be creative we would not distort the true gospel message. Jesus wants the rose!

Friday's randomness

• Check out Mark Batterson's 5 creativity equations...good stuff.
• This is, in my opinion, Perry Noble's post of the week for pastors and church leaders check it out here.
• If you ever get the chance to look at Ed Young's blog at http://www.edyoungblog.com/ you will notice that under other bloggers he has his wife Lisa listed before TD Jakes. Good move! I always knew he was a smart man.
• Leadership/team lessons we can learn from the rock band U2...mmmm....check it out here.
• Finally...here is a video about managing money that is priceless...enjoy it and your weekend.

Elijah Offering Video from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

Leadership check

Just this morning God brought up two thoughts that compliment each other as I had some very needed quiet time.

As I was reading Isaiah 58 I found these words, "They delight in the nearness of God." (vs.2) This, to me, describes a life that is flowing in the waves of the Holy Spirit. God is always with us. God is always at work around us. A submitted life will see this and delight in it while a life that is in rebellion will resent it and even fight against it. One who delights in the nearness of God is one who has nothing to hide and doesn't want to hide anything because they know that God is love and grace and does not reject His own.

The other moment that connected with this was when a friend talked about pastors/leaders wanting accountability. His thoughts were that any pastor or leader with any decency about him/her would welcome accountability. This is especially true when the goal is not our own personal glory but the glory of God and the betterment of the organization/church.

Here's my encouragement today. Just take a few moments and "delight in the nearness of God". Then write down what He is telling you today. God is good and that never changes.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." (Romans 15:13 ESV)

Seriously????

Wow...and I thought men played rough...check out this story.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Monday morning thoughts

• Great service yesterday! We walked through Psalm 30 yesterday and talked about different things to be thankful for.
• My Bible has this Psalm labeled as one used in the dedication of the temple.
• 2 Corinthians 6:16 say that "we are the temple of the living God."
• So is it far to say that this Psalm is not only "for" the temple but also "to" the temple?
• God never ceases to amaze me at how He sets things up some times. It's almost like He really is in control like He says He is....mmmmmm :-)
• It's that time of year where budgets are being combed through for the next year and people are getting more and more stressed about money...personally, corporately, and otherwise.
• Lord, help us to live and move and have our being as if You really are sovereign...Lord thank you for having a plan long before we realize we need one.
• Pastors and church leaders...it would benefit you greatly to read this post from Perry Noble...click here.

Clayton on fasting

Here are some highlights from a message Clayton King gave this year at Newspring Church in S.C. this year. Clayton does a great job of just laying things out there for people. Here's a sampling...

Lincoln Brewster

Here's Lincoln Brewster's album version of "Salvation is Here"...enjoy!!!

It's Friday!!!!

Today is Friday...it's been a good week overall...here are some thoughts for today...

• Check out Perry's blog on leadership here...even if you don't agree with all of his points he at least makes you think...
• There is nothing in the world that sounds like a baby laughing...Micah rocks!!!
• This morning when we found the shirt Natalie wanted to where her response was a loud "Hallelujah!"...never a bad time to praise the Lord.
• I can not wait 'til Sunday. We are going to walk through Psalm 30 and God WILL be praise and He WILL be exalted!
• There are a few video clips that I want to share so keep checking back for those.
• Tomorrow some friends are running in a race to help end human trafficking. You can read more about it here. beherfreedom.com
• If you get the chance read Psalm 30 in whatever translation you usually use...then read it out of the Message Bible...good stuff!

Monday Morning reflections

• Yesterday's service ROCKED THE PLANET! There is nothing in this world like the love of Jesus!!!!
• We switched our service time and Sunday School time yesterday. With the later service time we actually saw some folks that haven't been in a while because the earlier time was too difficult for them. It was great to see them.
• There is nothing like Trick or Treating at the mall. Lots of people. Lots of costumes. Lots of security.
• The Candy Store at the mall gave out little peppermints to all the kids. YOU"RE A CANDY STORE...GET A LITTLE CREATIVE!!!!!
• Sorry about that last line...I'm not bitter...not at all...:-)
• November is here and that means Thanksgiving is coming up. YEAH!!!
• Here's today's quote..."It's kind of fun to do the impossible."-Walt Disney