Bethlehem Lutheran Church 14531 Old Olga Rd. Fort Myers, FL 33905 Phone: (239)694-3878 www.blcefm.org Week 49 Friday December 07, 2012 - Thursday December 13, 2012 Tell Me Again... Why Must I Repent?? Sunday, December 9 is the Second Sunday in Advent. My Sunday 9am sermon message at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Ft. Myers (and my 5:30pm Sat., Dec. 8, "Bible Study and Singing" emphasis at Faith Lutheran Church, Ft. Lauderdale, FL) is taken from this weekend's Gospel lesson, Luke 3:1-14. "And he (John the Baptist) went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (vs. 3). REPENTANCE!!... not a subject that our world (or many of us) desires to hear about!! But our second weekend in the Advent Season, as we prepare for the birthday of our Savior, Jesus... is focused on this central message from John the Baptist. One of our hymns this weekend is "Victory in Jesus" (verse one) "I heard an old, old story, How a Savior came from glory. How He give His life on Calvary, To save a wretch like me; I heard about His groaning, Of His precious blood atoning, Then I repented of my sins; and won the victory. O victory in Jesus, My Savior forever. He sought me and bought me, With His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him, And all my love is due Him, He plunged me to victory, Beneath the cleansing flood." 1
Pastor s Weekly Devotion (Cont.) December 07, 2012 - Thursday December 13, 2012 John the Baptist makes it VERY clear that repentance involves a... LIFESTYLE CHANGE!! "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." (vs. 11). Or as a child once explained, when asked, "What does it mean to repent"; the child responded, "It means to be sorry enough, that I won't do it... AGAIN!! We will also sing "I Lay My Sins on Jesus" (verse one) "I lay my sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God; He bears them all, and frees us, form the accursed load; I bring my guilt to Jesus, to wash away crimson stains, Clean in His blood most precious, till not a stain remains." Fellow sinners, let us... BRING OUR SINS TO JESUS!! As we... PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD!! 2
Bethlehem Lutheran Church 14531 Old Olga Rd. Fort Myers, FL 33905 Phone: (239)694-3878 www.blcefm.org Week 50 Friday December 14, 2012 - Thursday December 20, 2012 Rejoice, the Lord is Near! Sunday, Dec. 16, is the Third Sunday in Advent. My 9am Sunday message at Faith Lutheran Church, Ft. Lauderdale, FL (and my 5:30pm Sat. "Bible Study and Singing" emphasis at Faith Lutheran Church, Ft. Lauderdale, FL) is taken from this weekend's Epistle lesson, Philippians 4:4-7. "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice" (vs. 4). Bethlehem member, Rev. Juan Gonzalez, who is leading worship and preaching this Sunday, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Ft. Myers, FL, is also using this same sermon text and title. The Third Sunday of Advent has a unique characteristic. For those churches (including Bethlehem Lutheran and Faith Lutheran) who display an Advent wreath with four candles (for the four Sundays in the Advent season) in their Chancel area, this is the Sunday that the PINK (JOY) candle is lighted (the other three candles are either blue or purple). These words of Scripture from St. Paul, in his letter to the Christians in Philippi, TRULY give Christians God's clear directive on... HOW TO LIVE... as a follower of Jesus!! The text continues, "Let your reasonableness be know to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (vss. 5 & 6). 1
Pastor s Weekly Devotion (Cont.) December 14, 2012 - Thursday December 20, 2012 We're singing a few Christmas songs this Advent Sunday weekend... perhaps the most appropriate for this Third Sunday of Advent is "Joy To the World" (verse one) "Joy to the World, the Lord is Come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, and Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven and nature sing, and Heaven, and nature sing." So, where in our lives, do "Heaven and nature sing"? Perhaps it's when we witness a beautiful sunrise or sunset, or when we witness some spectacular sight in the world around us. Occasionally through e-mails and Facebook, when we receive photo postings where "Heaven and nature sing". My prayer is, that as we approach the JOY Sunday of our Advent season... that OUR words, actions and messages, will reverberate with the... REJOICE, THE LORD IS NEAR!... "Heaven and earth singing" message. The beautiful Advent hymn, "Hark, the Glad Sound" says it well. (verse one) "Hark, the glad sound! The Savior comes, The Savior promised long; Let every heart prepare a throne, And every voice a song." May our JOY be... PREPARING HEARTS FOR JESUS!! 2
Bethlehem Lutheran Church 14531 Old Olga Rd. Fort Myers, FL 33905 Phone: (239)694-3878 www.blcefm.org Week 51 Friday December 21, 2012 - Thursday December 27, 2012 To be Available!! This Sunday, Dec. 23, is the Fourth Sunday of Advent. My message on Sunday at 9am at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Ft. Myers, FL (and my emphasis at the 5:30pm Sat. eve. "Bible Study and Singing" at Faith Lutheran Church, Ft. Lauderdale, FL) is taken from this weekend's Gospel lesson, Luke 1:39-45 "... Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" (vs.42). The last (fourth) Sunday of the Advent season, shares a Gospel lesson focused on a KEY CHARACTER in the Christmas story... MARY!! This year, the Fourth Sunday of Advent is the day before Christmas Eve. In many Christian Churches, we will be given the opportunity, this coming Sunday, Monday and Tuesday... to have an amazing THREE DAY WORSHIP EXPERIENCE!! (NOTE: Bethlehem's Christmas Eve worship is at 7pm... their Christmas Day worship is a 9am) This weekend we will sing "What Child is This" (verse one) "What Child is this, who laid to rest, On Mary's lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, While shepherds watch are keeping. This, this is Christ the King, Whom shepherds guard and angels sing. Haste, haste to bring Him laud, The Babe, the Son of Mary." 1
Pastor s Weekly Devotion (Cont.) December 21, 2012 - Thursday December 27, 2012 Look at the cast of characters that God gathered around the newborn Jesus... Mary, Joseph, angels and shepherds!! (Sorry, the Wise Men didn't come till MUCH MUCH later) We will also sing "Of the Father's Love Begotten" (verse two) "O that birth forever blessed, when the virgin, full of grace, By the Holy Ghost conceiving, bore the Savior of our race; And the Babe, the world's Redeemer, First revealed His sacred face, evermore and evermore!" A virgin, full of grace!!... perhaps the most important characteristic of that virgin... was that she was...available!! She was willing to be used by God... for a VERY IM- PORTANT TASK!! May we all be... AVAILABLE!! 2
Bethlehem Lutheran Church 14531 Old Olga Rd. Fort Myers, FL 33905 Phone: (239)694-3878 www.blcefm.org Week 52 Friday December 28, 2012 - Thursday January 03, 2013 Searching for Jesus!! Sunday, Dec. 30, is the First Sunday after Christmas... THIS WILL BE OUR LAST CHANCE, THIS YEAR, TO SING CHRISTMAS SONGS!! (the following Sunday, Jan. 6... is EPIPHANY DAY!!) For any "Appointed Lessons of the Day" purists, out there, this weekend, I am making a slight change... My Sun. 9am sermon at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Ft. Myers, FL (and my 5:30pm Sat. "Bible Study and Singing" emphasis at Faith Lutheran Church, Ft. Lauderdale, FL) is drawn from the Gospel for the Second Sunday after Christmas, Luke 2:40-52, the Biblical account, where Jesus' parents (when Jesus is approximately 12 years old) are...searching FOR JESUS!!. This wonderful story of human drama (involving Jesus and his parents)... calls out to us!! "And when the feast was ended, as they (Jesus' parents) were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went for a days journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances" (vss. 43 & 44). A powerful characteristic of this Biblical account in Jesus' life (one of the few accounts of Jesus' childhood and youth found in Scripture), is the fact that each one of us has... EXPERIENCED THIS STORY!! Each of us have had times where, either we have been separated from our children, or we have been separated from our parents... WE CAN RELATE TO MARY AND JOSEPH'S FRANTIC CONCERN!! 1
Pastor s Weekly Devotion (Cont.) December 28, 2012 - Thursday January 03, 2013 But then this story takes an amazing turn, "And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers" (vss. 45-47). This weekend we will sing "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come" (verse three) "This is the Christ, our God Most High, Who hears your sad and bitter cry; He will Himself, your Savior be, from all your sins to set you free." Even the teachers in the temple recognized that Jesus was no ordinary child...they WERE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MESSIAH!! A human interest story... that points us to our Savior... JESUS!! 2