Still Christmas

/ The Pastor

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. [Luke 2:20]

It’s still Christmas. And I’m not talking about being in the midst of the 12 days of Christmas. It’s still Christmas in the sense that the Good News of Christmas is still Good News and always will be. I don’t imagine the shepherds glorifying and praising God only for a season. I imagine it continued on and on. They saw and heard amazing news. They gazed into the face of salvation. They had their lives turned upside down (or in terms of my Christmas sermon, “messed up”). I mean, how does one get sick and tired of news like this:

Jesus was born for you that you may know God and therefore everlasting life.

That is amazing!
That is awesome!

A season is not enough time to share the Good News of Jesus for there are many who have not heard. And for those who have heard, we often forget. So continue on your way, like the shepherds, glorifying and praising God for all you have seen and heard.

Praise be to God, always and forever, Amen!!!

The Pastor -|—

Christmas prayer

/ The Pastor

O God, loving Father, what a beautiful morning to wake up and contemplate your amazing love. For Jesus was born for us that we may come to know more of you. Not that we don’t think about your love on other days but Christmas seems to heighten our awareness of this awesome gift. May this awareness not weaken throughout the year. May we not drift back into being complacent. May we not take this gift of all gifts for granted.

Holy God, I am also reminded of those who are grieving this Christmas season; people who are mourning the death of a loved one or the ending of a relationship. May they be reminded of your amazing grace and love. May they be granted strength and courage to meet the days ahead. May they cling to that which will never end; You, O God.

God of healing, I am especially mindful this morning of those in my own community who are sick. There seems to be a lot of people dealing with the flu or some other ailment. Please don’t let Satan win but rather grant healing, strength or whatever is needed so that those not feeling well, here in Jackson or elsewhere, may remember the joy of this day.

O God, you are great. You are awesome. And words fail to describe you to the fullest. Bless this day and all our days that we may glorify you and shout from the mountain top that Jesus Christ is born and is Lord of all. All praise to you, O God.

Amen!!!

The Pastor -|—

Christmas blessing from The Pastor

/ The Pastor

image

From my home to your home…

We hope and pray that your Christmas is one filled with joy and great expectation as you worship this awesome God of ours. May the Holy Spirit strengthen or create the faith in you to see Jesus as your Lord and Savior. And May the God of all creation, create in you the passion to shout from the mountain tops that Jesus has been born for all. Let us pray…

Loving, holy and amazing God, I thank you for this incredible gift, Jesus Christ our Lord.
May those who are grieving find hope.
May those who are lost be found.
May those who are oblivious come to know.
May those who hunger be fed.
May those stray be carried back.
And may the hope of Christmas be our strength as we cling to the hope of the resurrection. All praise to you, O God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ Longing and Fainting

/ The Pastor

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. [Psalm 84:1-2]

I like to travel and visit new and interesting places or visit some of my old favorites. One of my favorite places to go is NW Washington. It’s beautiful out there; along the Cascade Mountains and the Puget Sound. I love the seafood and especially seeing friends. And being out on the road can be fun for a while; driving through the mountains, but eventually the traveling and the time away gets old and I begin to long for home. I long for my place of rest and peace.

How lovely is your dwelling place

The psalmist here is longing to go home. He realizes he has been away long enough and is anxiously awaiting the day that he will return to the courts of the Lord. Later in this beautiful Psalm, the author writes, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

We do live in a sinful and wicked world and the heart wired for the Lord longs to return to it’s creator; to dwell in the lovely place of the Lord. Christmas is a time to remember that God has opened the way for his children to return home. And the way home is Jesus. Through faith in Jesus; in his death and resurrection, we can have the hope dwelling in God’s lovely places someday. And when you see your salvation in Jesus, your heart, too, will long and faint for the glory of God and to dwell in his courts forever.

Sing for joy to our living God for He is Good and Awesome!

Have a very Merry Christmas and God bless!

The Pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ Peace Among Us

/ The Pastor

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” [Luke 2:14]

When Jesus was born…
~ The Roman empire didn’t suddenly fall.
~ Wars didn’t stop.
~ Hunger didn’t vanish.
~ Poverty didn’t disappear.
~ Diseases weren’t instantly cured.
~ World peace was not achieved.

None of these things happened, but peace did appear. And it appeared in the midst of this stuff. People often wonder and question:

If God is so loving then why is there war? Disease? Death of the young? Etc…

If these things exist then God can not. That is silly rationale and something that does not see or understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The fact of the matter is that Jesus came in the midst of a fallen world (among it) to redeem creation from sin. Jesus came to save you. When Jesus was born, the very thing the angels sang about happened:

Peace came among us

And with that peace among us ~ Jesus ~ we can have the strength to face conflict, disease, hunger, death and anything this world throws at us; knowing that God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, has overcome this world by defeating the last enemy: Death. And our peace is that through faith in Jesus we too have overcome this world.

So live at peace is this chaotic, messed up world and hold onto the hope of the resurrection. Be at peace and sing with the angels:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Praise be to God!

The Pastor – |—

Battle and Victory

/ The Pastor

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.” [Proverbs 21:31]

I love that bit of wisdom and something I need to hear.

How often have you taken credit for a “victory” in your life? Maybe it was a compliment on a job well done. Maybe you studied and studied for a big test and you scored a high grade and patted yourself on the back afterwards. Maybe you credited someone else for your success. My temptation is when someone compliments me on a good sermon and I say “thank you”. 

[And yes, I do get those from time to time :-)]

Whatever it is, if we are not praising God in life’s “victories” then we are stealing the limelight from God.

Victory belongs to the Lord.

There’s no way around it. Without God we would be lost. Without God we would fall flat. Without God we would fail. It doesn’t mean we don’t prepare and study and make plans. We need to do those things.  Just remember who gets the credit in the end. Remember to praise and glorify God for He is worthy.

The Pastor – |—

Morning devotions ~ Mouth Guard

/ The Pastor

“Set a guard, O Lord , over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!”  [Psalm 141:3]

How many times have you wished that you could take back something you said? Maybe you said something to a loved one out of anger or frustration? Maybe you snapped at your children out of anxiety over something at work. Maybe you just said something; trying to be funny, but it turned out to hurt the person. So many times I wish I could just reach out and grab those words and hope no one really heard them.

And how about written forms of communication: text messages, emails and social media interactions? We need a filter and to beware of the words and thoughts we put out there for people to read. People may forget something you said over time, but once you put something out there on the Internet it is there forever. The Internet does not forget. A text message or and email can be saved and read over and over again.

We need a mouth guard.

Ask God to set up a guard for your tongue. Seek wisdom for our words. Think twice before you speak and re-read what you write before you hit “send”. Do your words build people up? Do they glorify God?

“Holy God, make me mindful of my words that I may not cause harm to anyone. May my words serve to glorify you.”

Praise be to God!

The pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ The Right Stuff

/ The Pastor

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.” [Psalm 20:7-8]

Let’s add to these verses as if the psalmist were writing today. Some trust in:
~ Money
~ Credit cards
~ Athletic ability
~ Intelligence
~ Beauty
~ Big homes
~ Nice cars
~ Active social media accounts
~ Peaceful relationships
~ Family
~ Friends
~ Children

And we could go on, for you get the point, right? Basically, anything we fear losing or anything we run to (other than God) when times get tough. There is so much that we put our trust in and yet these things, people, etc have no power and no desire to hold us up or remain loyal. Anything and everything of this world will eventually collapse and fall. It’s like trying to find refuge on a pile of sand in a torrent rain fall.

Stupid
Foolish
Unwise

But name of the Lord is our stronghold; our firm foundation; and our hope. For only in the name of Jesus can we feel eternally secure. Only in the name of Jesus can we have a foundation that will not crumble. Only in the name of Jesus can we have something that will not let us down. I mean, look at the cross. It seemed to many that Jesus collapsed and fell when he died, but on the third day he rose and now stands firm. And now, through faith in him; trusting in the name of the Lord, we can stand firm as well.

Through him and him alone we have everything we need so put your trust in him and let those horses and chariots fade away.

Praise be to God!

The pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ God’s handiwork

/ The Pastor

[1] The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1 ESV)

Walk outside and take a good look around. How does one think there is no God when you consider the intricate design of creation? How does one think that everything we see is nothing more than randomness? How does one base their system of beliefs on a claim that there is no God? But worse yet, if you believe in God how does one not fall on their face in worship and awe?

All around the heavens declare the glory of God. And that right there should make us feel guilty when WE do not declare the glory of God.
Creation cries out that God is awesome but yet we busy ourselves with the cares of this world.
Creation declares the greatness of God and we try to explain it away.
Creation and the heavens bow down in worship and what do we do?

God’s handiwork is all around us; we just need to look. But the greatest handiwork of all time is what happened in the manger at Christmas.. Through faith in Jesus, God has made a New Creation:

YOU!

Christmas is about love and peace coming to the world to complete what God started in creation. Through faith in Jesus we have forgiveness of sins and thus New Life. So take a new and fresh look at the manger this Christmas season and see God’s handiwork work there. And don’t forget to join the heavens in declaring God’s glory; for God is indeed worthy.

Praise be to God!

The pastor -|—

Morning devotions ~ Cleaning house

/ The Pastor

With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! (Psalm 119:10 ESV)

Seeking God requires more space than what we are willing to give. God wants our WHOLE heart and not just part of it. After all, there is so much to God that part just will not do.

For the psalmist here, he knows that clearing away stuff from his heart and seeking God with a clean slate is key to obedience. When we mix God’s commandments with anything else we get impurity and therefore we WILL wander away from God. And we are very good at doing this. We take a commandment of God and twist it to suit our own desires; turning God’s Word into something other than God’s holy Word.

But to clear away the junk in our heart and seek God with our WHOLE heart takes humility and that’s something that goes against the hard wiring of this world. We are sinful and therefore we want what we want and we want it now.

One of the quotes that I have found most helpful when I became a parent 1 1/2 years ago is this:

The best thing a man can do for his wife and children is to love God more than them.

For me this is key when it comes to what the psalmist is saying here. We need to love God above all things and all people…

…even our family.

Notice that I didn’t say we stop loving our family but rather love God more.

Make God THE priority in your life. Let your children see in your life who is King and Lord. Let the world see who rules in your heart. Clean house in your heart that you may completely seek God and not wander away. Clean house in your heart and seek to know God’s commandments better. Clean house in your heart and reserve your WHOLE heart for God’s holy Word.

May GOD be praised always and forever. Amen!

The pastor -|—