Advent Family Devotional Christmastime, 2017

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Advent Family Devotional Christmastime, 2017"

Leonard Allen
5 years ago
Views:

1 Christ Our Hope Church s Advent Family Devotional Christmastime, 2017 Please join us at our worship services at 10:30 on Sundays 203 Capcom Ave, Wake Forest, NC

2 Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Matthew heralds the coming of our King! The sight that day was of a King on a donkey, commanding yet humble, exalted yet subtle. It is hard to believe that its beginning was even more humble, isn t it? Advent is the season of the year where the church turns her eyes backward: to the beginning of our King s exaltation whose starting point was hardly exalted! Christmas rushes upon us in a flurry and it is too easy to lose our sight on its heart: the coming and incarnation of the Lord Jesus. Your pastors have written this short devotional tool for you to use during the weeks leading up to Christmas day. Our Sunday worship services will celebrate Advent in the prophecies of Isaiah and so these devotions will contemplate those promises so you can make them your own. Please also feel free to take extras for your neighbors as we pray One Family Per Family. The format for this devotional includes the citation from Isaiah with devotional thoughts around its theme and then suggested daily readings for that week. The elders of Christ Our Hope church pray this tool would remind you that our Savior has come to give us the gift of life! Merry Christmas! Pastors Gabe and Tim

3 First Sunday in Advent: December 3, 2017 READ Isaiah 9:1-7 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You re in the dark on this one Maybe someone has said that to you; maybe you ve said it to another. We all know what it is like to walk in the dark. In other words, not knowing enough to be enlightened, not seeing enough to know the way, not having experience enough to do what is right. If Jesus advent His first coming is anything, it is bringing light to a world full of darkness. It s not as if life is all bad (for sure!) but just that everywhere we turn we bump into (or get run over by) suffering, difficulty or uncertainty. The Bible regularly talks about the relationship God has with His people as bringing light to them. Jesus Himself said, I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12). As you can read this week in the verses below, the coming of Jesus is the coming of light and that light brings joy, freedom, justice and salvation. Christmastime is full of many things, beloved. Do not fill it so full of the world (and the dark) that you miss the beauty and the light of Jesus Christ it is for all who believe! This week s readings: Monday: Isaiah 8:11-15 Tuesday: Isaiah 9:1-2 Wednesday: Isaiah 9:3-4 Thursday: Isaiah 9:5-6 Friday: Isaiah 9:7

4 Second Sunday in Advent: December 10, 2017 READ Isaiah 11:1-9 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. One of the common refrains of Christmas is the promise of Peace On Earth. (Luke 2:14) The announcement from the angels on that first Christmas morning has been echoed in songs and cards and store displays. This chapter of Isaiah paints a picture of that Peace in practical ways. Justice for the oppressed, equity for the poor, predator and prey living together. With strength and courage, that which is wrong is corrected. The world has never seen anything like this! This peace is found in the righteousness reign of God. We long for this kind of righteousness, yet we don t see it in the world or in our own hearts. Apart from the grace of God, no one is righteous (Rom 3:9-20). We all seek after our own selfish ends rather than the good of others. So we need God to save us, even from ourselves. And He will do it. Jesus promises us, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matt 5:6) This season, let us pray that God increases our longing for His righteousness, in ourselves and in our community that we might see that longing fulfilled in His work among us. This week s readings: Monday: Isaiah 10:20-21 Tuesday: Isaiah 11:1-2 Wednesday: Isaiah 11:3-5 Thursday: Isaiah 11:6-8 Friday: Isaiah 11:9-10

5 Third Sunday in Advent: December 17, 2017 READ Isaiah 12:1-6 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and will not be afraid; for the LORD God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. What are your favorite Christmas hymns or songs? Silent Night or O, Come all Ye Faithful top the list for me (Pastor Gabe). There are so many more songs: silly songs, corny songs, fun songs and deep songs. Advent and Christmastime are incomplete without the songs, right? The beauty of Christ s Advent is He makes them all worth singing! How? As Isaiah wrote, God has become my salvation. By grace received in faith, Christ comes to be our salvation. Or, He comes to change our deepest songs from fear and condemnation to trust and joy. Those deep songs of salvation are songs of confidence and trust. They ring with strength because the chords are divine and anchored in God s eternal acts. But isn t it interesting God s salvation is a singing salvation? Jesus said, I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9). That pasture is sweet, safe and full of song. Open the door of your souls to Christ and then listen for the songs of joy He plants there and then sing them! This week s readings: Monday: Isaiah 11:10-16 Tuesday: Isaiah 12:1-2 Wednesday: Isaiah 12:3-4 Thursday: Isaiah 12:5-6 Friday: Psalm 46:4-7

6 Fourth Sunday in Advent: December 24, 2017 READ Isaiah 35:1-10 A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. One of my (Pastor Tim) favorite Advent traditions is the calendars the kind where you pop open a new window each day and take out a piece of chocolate. It reminds me that this countdown to Christmas is full of longing and expectation, but with joy along the journey. It s a reminder that God is bringing us somewhere somewhere very good. Advent celebrates that God is coming to dwell with His people and save them from sin s awful tyranny. Everything wrong is being made right. Weak hands gain strength. Anxious hearts lose their fear. Eyes blind by sin begin to open to the beauty of God. Healing waters of forgiveness break forth in the hardened desert of our souls. Joy will be like a crown on our heads. Like the chocolates in the Advent calendar, each day we can see little tastes of this new life breaking out. And just like the chocolates we long for more of it. This combination of thankfulness and hope is what I think about when I think about gladness. One last thought unlike those chocolates, the gladness of Christmas only increases as we share its sweetness with others. Who can you share the hope of Jesus with this season? This week s readings: Monday: Isaiah 35:1-2 Tuesday: Isaiah 35:2-3 Wednesday: Isaiah 35:3-4 Thursday: Isaiah 35:5-7 Friday: Isaiah 35:8-10

7 Christmas Morning: December 25, 2017 READ Luke 2:22-32 My eyes have seen Your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation for the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel. Advent always gives way to Christmas morning! The time of anticipation is over! Behold, the time has come to celebrate the coming of the One who was promised! The One who pledged Himself to come and save a people who aren t looking for Him! The One who brings to life all who look to Him with simple faith! Beloved, receive the gifts of those who love you. Open them with thanksgiving and with song. Rip off that paper, put those things together, make them fly or talk or blink! Celebrate the self-sacrificing love of those who surround you. What wonderful gifts of love! But, do this, my friends, with hearts recognizing they are all just shadows of that one great Gift, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let your eyes move from the gift to the Giver and celebrate with the angels: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace! Heaven soon, Pastor Gabe

December 1. December 2

December 1. December 2 December 1 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing. December 2 I will