As we approach the first Sunday of Advent, I have been thinking a lot about
just that...Advent. Advent is taken from the Latin word adventus and means “coming.”
The Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, which was used to
refer to the Second Coming of Christ.
To me this season, this Church tradition reminds us to celebrate all that Christ has
done for each of us and also helps us to position our hearts expectantly and
hopefully for Christ to return and make all things new. It is an amazing perspective
and allows us to contemplate the new heaven and the new earth where all will be
made right.
George Whitefield wrote a sermon for Advent called Contemplating Christmas and
in this sermon he said:
“What, shall we not remember the birth of our Jesus...No, my
dear brethren, let us celebrate and keep this festival of our church with joy in our
hearts: let the birth of a Redeemer, which redeemed us from sin, this Savior’s love
never be forgotten! But may we sing forth all his love and glory as long as life shall
last here, and through an endless eternity in the world above! May we chant forth
the wonders of redeeming love and the riches of free grace, amidst angels and
archangels, cherubim and seraphim, without intermission, forever and ever!”
Father, this Advent season may we all look forward with thankful hearts, with love,
with an expectant hope for all that has been done and all that will be done. Amen!
Grace and Peace!
Father God, In Philippians you tell us: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And Father that is amazing to me, that we can come to you about anything, and thru
prayer we can express our thanks, we can present our requests, we can have a
relationship with the creator of the universe.
So Father, as we move thru this thing called life, let us know that we do not have to
be anxious about anything, that no matter what you are there with us; and mostly let
us be thankful that because of all Christ has done for us we can know, that you love
us, that we can come to you in prayer anytime and for anything and that we can
have a real and heartfelt relationship with you.
Father, as we stop and reflect on this special day, help us to do so with thankful
souls, help us to sing praises to you, help us to express our love because you first
loved us. And not just this day, but let this be the first of many days that are
grounded in our thankfulness; thankful that you are in our lives and thankful that
we are your children.
Father, this Thanksgiving Day no matter our circumstance, no matter our standing,
no matter what help us with thankful hearts to know your great love. Abba Father,
we love you and pray these many things in the most beautiful name of Jesus Christ –
Amen!
Grace and Peace!
John 4:23-26
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the
Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in
truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When
he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one
speaking to you—I am he.”
We recently used this passage as our call to worship and what a beautiful passage it
is. This is where Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman and they have a great
discussion concerning the temporal and the eternal. During this encounter Jesus
explains, reveals and demonstrates. He shares that as Scotty Smith describes; “The
Gospel is bad news before it is good news. The living water of grace is sweet only to
those who know the bitter taste of their sin.”
So when we truly recognize our desperate condition, our need of saving we can then
and only then realize that Jesus alone is our only hope. And once we do get it, once
we do accept this; it is then that we taste the true, eternal and living water. As we
taste, as we are rescued, as we are saved, as we are born again, it seems to me that
the reaction should be an eruption of worship.
Again there is instruction here. Jesus tells us that worship matters, but it is not a
matter of where we worship, or worship is not a matter of our position in the world,
but it is the what (God) and the how (in spirit and truth) that are important. As with
this woman from Samaria it is so tough for us to recognize that it is Jesus that should
be central in our worship, not the music, not the preacher, not what we like, but
Jesus and his amazing grace.
At the end of this passage, Jesus adds the exclamation point to our worship. Jesus
rightly reminds us, instills in us the object and nature of our worship. Jesus says to
us all; “I who speak to you am he.”
Grace and Peace!
The path or journey to a saving faith in Christ can be mysterious, it can be so
personal, it can be long or short; however, there is one thing I am sure of, it is a work
of God! I think of 1 Corinthians 3:5-6:
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came
to believe-as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos
watered it, but God has been making it grow.
I know that although my path was over 40 years long there were many seeds along
the way. One of my fondest memories as a kid and definitely a seed was that of my
grandfather reading his Bible. I remember that he took time daily to ready his Bible,
during good times, and troubling times, even when the grandkids were visiting, no
matter what was going on, he made the time.
I also remember that he didn’t seem to mind if I came in his room while he was
reading. I could ask him what he was reading and he would take the time to tell me,
to explain, to plant the seed. Now I will admit it took a bunch of watering along the
way, but God caused the growth according to his timing and his perfect plan.
I am so thankful for that seed (and others) and I have to tell you that now it is
amazing how much I love to read my Bible; how much it means to me to see God
revealed, to see His magnificent and incredible plan of redemption, to see the love of
my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to see the work of the Holy Spirit, to see Grace, to
see the actual and literal Word of God!
As Jesus tells us in Matthew 4:4:
But he answered, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that comes from the mouth of God.” Amen!
Grace and Peace!
