Notes of Faith December 31, 2023

Notes of Faith December 31, 2023

Why You Need to Keep Coming Back to the Word

The Bible is life–changing. Not only will reading and responding to God’s Word change your life today, but the Bible will continually change you as you keep coming back to it throughout your life. It’s not enough to sample the Word; you need to incorporate the habit of daily coming back to the Word into your life.

God’s Word Is Where the Power Is

R.A. Torrey shared what has become one of my favorite quotes, “People who pray for power but neglect the Bible abound in the church. But the power that belongs to God is stored up in the great reservoir of His own Word, the Bible. We cannot obtain or maintain God’s power in our own lives or in our work unless there is deep and frequent meditation on the Word of God.”

Torrey was a longtime ministry associate of D.L. Moody who also had a passion for God’s Word and based his whole ministry on it. In one of my favorite stories about D.L. Moody, he shares:

A quickening that will last must come through the word of God. A man stood up in one of our meetings and said he hoped for enough out of the series of meetings to last him all his life. I told him he might as well try to eat enough breakfast at one time to last him a lifetime. That is a mistake that people are making; they are running to religious meetings and they think the meetings are going to do the work. But if these don’t bring you into closer contact with the word of God, the whole impression will be gone in three months.

If you really want to grow in your Christian life, you need to keep coming back to the Word of God.

It’s not enough to read the Bible once and then move on. Each of us need daily manna from heaven that God gives as we come back to His Word each day.

Your Bible Is Living and Active

When you become a student of the Bible and you read it consistently throughout the years, different Scriptures stand out at different times. God’s Word is living and active and will often speak to you what you need to hear at just the right moment.

God’s Word also becomes living and active in your heart when you memorize Scripture and meditate on it. To meditate on the Word of God means letting it roll over and over again in your heart and mind until it settles deeply into your spirit. It’s one thing to get into the Word of God, but it’s another thing to let the Word of God get into you. I spend much of my day as part of a ministry team thinking on the Word of God and what God wants to speak into the chaos, dysfunction, and brokenness of our world. I meditate and ponder what God might be saying and what He might want me to say to bring hope and truth into a world that desperately needs Him.

Remind Your Heart Daily What God Has Said

It’s important to keep coming back to the Word of God because the Bible tells us the importance of remembering what God has said:

For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

— 2 Peter 1:12-15, NKJV

It is good to be reminded of what God has said, and you do this by coming back to the Word over and over so your life is continually changed.

Excerpted from ThomasNelsonBibles.com. Written by Matt Brown, author of Truth Plus Love.

From before my call to pastor/shepherd God had placed on my heart and mind the importance of His Word. It is food and water for those who will consume it. It will become a part of you and give you life, if you follow the truth it speaks. A new year brings another opportunity to draw closer to God. Let us begin by listening/learning through His Word and growing in Christ daily!

Happy New Year in Christ!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 30, 2023

Notes of Faith December 30, 2023

Giving Our Feelings to God

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. — Isaiah 43:19

For better or worse, our emotions carry a great deal of influence over how we choose to act. When fear gets in the way, we become impulsive and reactive, losing sight of what God has for us. We trade in the rich, new thing He promised for a cheaper replica.

So how do we know this new thing is happening? We put our senses to work. We see and feel what God has set in motion.

The Father intimately knows your needs, and He will provide for them. Prepare your heart to experience the good He has for you.

Conditioning the Heart

For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. — Hebrews 4:12 AMP

Every new year, people resolve to be healthier. Gym memberships skyrocket along with the sales of athleisure wear. A month or two later, ambition has faded, the gym crowds have thinned out, and athleisure is just a style. We wait for a more pressing call to action to pick up healthy habits... or we wait for the next new year.

So it goes with an on-again, off-again relationship with the Word. Even though we feel lost, overwhelmed, or burdened day after day, our Bibles sit untouched.

To condition your heart, you need to spend time reading the Bible. This week’s verses reveal both the power of God’s Word and why you might shy away from it — because sometimes confronting the truth hurts. But conditioning your heart this way will give you energy, make you whole, and bring you into alignment with God’s heart.

Use this week to meditate on a Bible passage. Read it every day.

What is God saying to you in this passage? Listen for His voice.

Feelings can make or break a habit.

Change Needs Roots

But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. — Jeremiah 17:7-8 NLT

It’s a fact: hard times are going to come. And when your resources begin to dry up, you’ll need to connect to your life source. (Remember that stream God promised in the wasteland in Isaiah 43:19?)

Jeremiah reminds us that those who trust in God are blessed, like a tree with deep roots. But God wants more for you than mere survival.

He wants to see you thrive, which can only happen when you tap into His life-giving goodness.

As you start to carry out your habits, check in with your heart. Remember, the fruits of the Spirit you’ll produce as a result of your habit will not only yield actions like love and self-control; they’ll also give you feelings of joy and peace. When our roots reach deep into God’s love, the effort to change comes with more ease. As a result, more fruit follows.

What hardships are you experiencing in this season? Choose one to trust God with this week.

Have you been able to make small changes? Have you seen or felt the fruits of those changes?

Excerpted from The Weekly Habits Project, copyright Zondervan.

Prov 3:5-6

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your path.

ESV

I am still learning and trying to not respond to feelings and emotions, instead leaning and trusting the Spirit of God within me to guide my thoughts and actions. Will you, with me, make every effort in the coming year to wait on the Lord to lead us rather than make decisions, speak and act in our own power. By His grace, power, and authority we will be pleasing in His sight throughout 2024!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 29, 2023

Notes of Faith December 29, 2023

I Am God and You Are Not

I am God, and you are not. This may sound harsh, but it’s actually a blessed dose of reality. In the Garden of Eden, Satan tempted Eve with the very same desire that had caused him to fall from heaven: to be like God, usurping My divine position. Eve succumbed to this temptation, as did Adam. Since that time, the sin-nature in people prompts them to act as if they are God — trying to control everything, judging Me when circumstances don’t go as they’d like.

Remembering you are not God helps you live in freedom. You don’t take responsibility for matters that are beyond your control — which includes most matters. If you let go of everything that is not your responsibility, you are freed from carrying unnecessary burdens. And you can be more effective in areas where you do have some control. Moreover, you can pray about all your concerns, trusting in My sovereignty. Bring Me your prayers with thanksgiving; present your requests to Me. Living this way will shield you from anxiety and bless you with Peace that transcends all understanding.

And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven.”

— Luke 10:18 NKJV

For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. —Genesis 3:5 NKJV

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:6–7

Remembering you are not God helps you live in freedom.

Beware of overthinking things — obsessing about unimportant matters. When your mind is idle, you tend to go into planning mode: attempting to figure things out and make various decisions before you really need to do so. This is an unproductive way of trying to grasp control, and it’s a waste of your precious time. Often, you end up changing your mind or forgetting what you decided. There is a time for planning, but it’s definitely not all the time — or even most of it.

Seek to live in the present moment, where My Presence awaits you continually. Refresh yourself in My nearness, letting My Love soak into your inner-most being. Relax with Me, putting aside problems so you can be attentive to Me and receive more of My Love. Your soul thirsts for Me, but often you don’t realize what you’re really longing for: awareness of My Presence. Let Me lead you beside quiet waters and restore your soul. Just as lovers don’t need to say much to communicate deeply, so it is in your relationship with Me — the Lover of your soul.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. — Ephesians 3:17–19

O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

— Psalm 63:1 NKJV

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. — Psalm 23:2–3

Excerpted from Jesus Always Notetaking Edition by Sarah Young, copyright Sarah Young.

Without all knowledge and wisdom there is none who could make decisions that are good and perfect. We have desires, wants, preconceived notions, do not see the big picture, and make decisions that are often not the best. We need to trust the Creator of the universe, the Giver and Sustainer of life, that He loves us, knows everything, has the power to do anything, and His great desire is relationship with those He created in His image…you and me. Let us trust for each day, for it is one day closer to the day we meet Jesus face to face and spend the rest of eternity with Him. (For those that believe in Him and follow Him and obey Him)

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 28, 2023

Notes of Faith December 28, 2023

Forgiveness: Love & Respect Takes Two Good Forgivers

Make allowances for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

— Colossians 3:13 NLT

Ruth Graham, whose marriage to Billy lasted over sixty happy, God-glorifying years, was often heard to say, “A good marriage is made of two good forgivers.” Her comment, while true for every marriage, applies especially to a Love & Respect couple, because forgiveness is the ultimate strategy for halting the Crazy Cycle or, better yet, for preventing it from getting started. A paraphrase of today’s verse says it all:

forgive each other as Christ forgave you.

We know we should forgive, but between the knowing and the doing there can be a big gap. And when you are sitting on the unforgiving side of that gap, you can pay a price. Jesus warned His followers of how big that price can be when He taught,

If you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

— Matthew 6:15 NLT

Was Jesus saying that unforgiveness could cost you your salvation? No, but it can disrupt your fellowship and favor with the Lord. God does not damn us for unforgiveness, but He does enact discipline. Sarah and I learned this early in our marriage, when a typical morning scene would find us in an angry spat, neither one willing to forgive or ask forgiveness. Still smoldering, I would leave for my office at the church to work on my sermon for the coming Sunday. But when I sat down to pray and read the Scriptures, the heavens would not open. God seemed to have something on His mind. I heard no audible voice, but He spoke quite clearly nonetheless: If you do not forgive Sarah and seek her forgiveness, I cannot allow My Spirit to touch your spirit. Things will not be right until you call her and reconcile.

More often than not, I would reach for the phone to make that call and it would ring first. It would be Sarah, wanting to reconcile because she had been getting exactly the same message from the Lord!

Feelings can make or break a habit.

Our spats were usually small stuff — two young married people butting heads over very little. Our conflicts were nothing compared to what some couples go through due to adultery, abuse, or desertion. But whether the matter is major or minor, the path to forgiveness is to realize that the issue that prompts your need to forgive isn’t primarily about your relationship to your spouse; it’s about your relationship to God.

Suppose Sarah is 100 percent guilty in wronging me. Her guilt cannot justify my unforgiving heart. I can remain unforgiving of Sarah as long as I wish. While I lick my wounds, I can argue with God and explain my “right” to be unforgiving. But God’s spiritual law stands firm: if I don’t forgive, I remain in a place where God’s forgiveness will not go because sin blocks our fellowship.

INSIGHT: To not forgive is to shoot yourself in the foot and put extra gas in the Crazy Cycle.

Do you remember the scene where Peter comes to Jesus, wanting to know how many times he must forgive? He gives an estimate that he hopes will impress Jesus: seven times. That was twice what the law required, but Jesus simply replies,

Matt 18:22

Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

ESV

His hyperbole makes the message clear to every couple — forgive indefinitely.

Granted, right about here you may be asking, okay, Emerson, to be right with God, does forgiving mean just letting the same hurtful, unloving, or disrespectful stuff go by over and over without ever talking about it?

No, not at all, but that’s part II of our study of forgiveness (see chapter 27). For now, focus on the fact that your Love & Respect marriage does take two good forgivers. You make allowance for each other’s faults as you forgive as many times as it takes. And you both forgive for one simple but profound reason: because you know Christ has forgiven you!

PRAYER: Thank God for forgiving you through the sacrifice of His son. Ask Him for the wisdom and courage to forgive each other seventy times seven or as many times as it takes. (Also consider bringing up people whom you need to forgive at work, at church, or in other situations, because these issues could be affecting how you treat your spouse or children.)

ACTION: Practice “quick forgiveness” this week no matter what the offense. Don’t let “little things” fester. Pick up that phone and make that call.

Excerpted from The Love and Respect Devotional by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, copyright Emerson Eggerichs.

God is so good at providing what we need at the moment that we need it. There may be someone that you need to forgive today and rest in the love of God for both of you. Whatever is causing issues between you can be looked at from a heavenly eternal perspective and forgiveness is not only possible but the only thing to do! Lean into Jesus when you are hurting and discover that He is just shaping your character toward His, preparing you for eternal grace, mercy, and love!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 27, 2023

Notes of Faith December 27, 2023

God Knows Your Secret Struggles

[God] knows the secrets of every heart. — Psalm 44:21 NLT

I call the years from 2015 to 2017 my “worried-sick years,” because those were the years my mother was a caretaker for my father, whose health was inexplicably declining. We knew something was wrong with him, but none of the diagnoses made sense for the severity of his mobility digression. I also knew, cognitively, that I was not his fixer — that worrying myself sick wouldn’t do him or my mother any good. But sometimes we allow worry to boss us, and before we know it, it has infected our own bodies and minds. Worry had bossed me into thinking I had to manage the gravity of my parents’ situation, and, as a result, pulled me into a sickness of its own: with isolation, lack of exercise, and low-grade anxiety, to name a few symptoms.

My parents lived a mostly private struggle of my dad’s unexplained physical illness and my mother’s dutiful insistence to care for him to the detriment of her own health. It was understandable in many ways — they had little money, few resources, and a historically take-charge man in the equation who didn’t want random people taking care of him in a now-vulnerable state. There were no concrete answers about his condition, and the subconscious ingraining in that generation to not ask for help made matters worse. And so, my parents’ struggle continued from months into several years.

Not having enough money to pay their bills, Mom taught art to kids in her home for some minor income, after getting Dad safely situated in front of the TV for a few hours at a time. Between that and social security, it kept them in their home.

But Dad’s heart needed medicine, and these types of health problems don’t come cheap. Purchasing thirty-day supplies of the medication was out of the financial question. So every day, mom would make a trip to the local CVS Pharmacy and purchase just two of his prescription pills at a time for him to keep living. The next day she would go again. And the next day, on repeat.

For two years, Dad’s heart lived off mom’s daily trips to CVS. Two pills, every day for two years. Just enough to get by.

And for two years, Mom’s heart carried the heaviness.

No one on the outside knew about the two-pill-a-day ritual except for the pharmacist and God.

Our money trail often tells the truest tale of our hidden struggles.

The mostly homeschool moms who brought their bouncy, eager kids for their weekly art lessons with my mother wouldn’t have known — they were always greeted by the smiling, happy art teacher wearing an apron covered in dried paint. It wasn’t a lie.

Momma was happy because her joy has never been about her circumstances. It’s one of the things she has taught me: there can be moments of happiness and pleasure even with the companion of hardship.

This confuses people when they refuse to honor the both-and of life.

Life is hard and it is also good. They mostly live together.

No, the joy Mom had was specific. It was the core belief that despite the struggle, God is not unaware, and thus actively involved in the resolution of that struggle. That life was worthy to continue, even often in the dark. She had gotten used to the dark, quite frankly. Times were difficult for years. She had lived enough to know that God’s ways were not going to be on her timetable or within her understanding. But she also knew trusting Him helped her endure, gain strength where she did not have it, and continue to be hopeful for the future. So that smile for her

art students was, indeed, real.

We don’t have to fake optimism when we believe in God’s omniscience.

In these places of hidden difficulty, “God knows” becomes a quiet space of breath holding and prayers, where we trust for things like breakthrough, sustaining, and, if we dare, hope. We need God differently in these moments than when we want justice or to move past our past. Those things certainly prove equally in need of His omniscience. But urgency, rawness, and survival mark this particular space.

Life is hard and it is also good. They mostly live together.

Sometimes our lives even depend upon it. Family members with a drug-addicted loved one only really have the hope that God knows their pain over it, that He knows their loved one’s enormous struggle, even, often, that He actually knows where their loved one is, since they haven’t heard from them in months. My friend Jessica hasn’t seen her meth-addicted daughter in a year. Summer came and went, without a word... then fall... and eventually, winter. Her Christmas presents remain unwrapped, waiting for her, if she ever comes to claim them. Spring brought flowers but no contact, and now it’s summer, again, and still nothing. The hope they cling to is that God knows where their daughter is, and He is caring for her in their absence. Many parents cling to this.

The idea of struggle meets us in different places. Some of us have skeletons that have been so carefully kept sleeping we are terrified to do anything to awaken them. The thought that a secret we hold could be outed brings mixed feelings. On one hand, most of us want to break up with whatever is hurting us, but on the other, we want to be left alone with what has become familiar to us.

Familiarity is the kryptonite of growth and often health and healing. It’s an epidemic in safe Christianity. A companion in most unchanged lives.

What we know often makes us feel safe and comforted, and that is not automatically bad. There is real benefit to a relationship that makes us feel known, wanted, valued, heard, seen, and loved, no matter what — all of which play into feeling safe. But those desires and the ultimate desire to feel safe is met through God. Only God can bring us lasting comfort. Trying to meet those needs through a secret habit is not only futile, but it is creating another entanglement that can take our reliance off Christ. More than one of us has fallen in love with something that we know good and well is bad for us, but we can’t seem to let it go.

And then some of us struggle with secrets that aren’t about things we have done but things that have happened to us that we desperately do not want. My friend’s daughter has an unexplained illness that they’ve kept mostly quiet, but it keeps the whole family in daily confusion and pain. They are desperate for change. The secret struggle of this group of us is not being comforted by a habit; it is craving any type of comfort or relief. Making sense out of seeming nonsense or worse, cruelty. Wanting to understand how God could have insight into their daily difficulties and not intervene.

I don’t know where you are with your secret struggle, what it is, or how it’s affecting you. But what I do know is that when you find yourself furiously trying to hide or ferociously trying to fix or defend it, it is time to bring it to light.

God’s omniscience allows Him a unique vantage point. He is aware of how deep in you are, how desperate, how much it will require His intervention to dig out — even more than you. So no, you are not alone in it. Someone already knows.

God wants to be our solution, in every way, no matter what our struggle winds up being.

Excerpted from God Knows by Lisa Whittle, copyright Lisa Whittle.

God knows, allows, even brings struggles and suffering into our lives to test our faith…to teach us to trust Him for everything that life brings…to expect His work in our lives for good and His glory. Let us “lean on His everlasting arms, Safe and secure from all alarms.” Let the love of God fill you with joy through your struggle and rejoice that your Savior, Jesus, has overcome this world! And…we will join Him soon. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 26, 2023

Notes of Faith December 26, 2023

Time to Rest

O God, restore us and cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.

— Psalm 80:3

Elijah was bone tired — body, mind, and soul. Fresh from clashing with the 850 false prophets on Mount Carmel, the prophet found himself on the run from the evil queen Jezebel, who was determined to have him killed. He fled ninety miles on foot to Beersheba. Finally, he was so completely drained that he despaired of life, sat down under a juniper tree, and said, “It is enough” (1 Kings 19:4).

Perhaps you understand Elijah. Maybe now that Christmas has come and gone with all its activities, visitors, gifts, cleaning, and complications, you find yourself completely exhausted and ready to declare, “Enough!” just as he did.

Few conditions deplete our faith and joy more rapidly and completely than weariness.

Thankfully, the Lord understands our limits and restores our souls.

Sometimes we need to follow Elijah’s example, taking a step back from the situation and letting the Lord refresh us. We may need a physical break like a day away from work or from our burdens. But stopping from all our activities and taking time to simply be with the Lord can help clear our minds, give us perspective on our circumstances, and provide the energy to keep going in the days ahead. So sit down, rest, and be strengthened in the Lord.

Jesus, thank You for being my rest and restoration. Amen.

God is more than willing to uphold and sustain you.

In God’s Strength

Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength... they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. — Isaiah 40:31

I remember meeting the late missionary Bertha Smith at the airport when she was a spry seventy-two-year-old. I’d gone to pick her up for a speaking engagement at our church, and I was amazed at how lively she was. At that time, she had the next five years of her life booked with meetings around the world.

At the end of the first long day at our mission conference, Ms. Smith was still going strong, so I asked her, “Don’t you ever get worn out?” She replied,

“I’m not operating in my strength. I am going in God’s.”

That was it. No fluffy theology — just straight-forward faith. She said, “Here’s what I do: I tell God what I have to do each day, and I let Him know I cannot accomplish it in my strength. Remember that Jesus said, ‘You can do nothing apart from Me.’ So I claim His power for each task, thank Him for it, and move on.”

That may seem simple, but it works. In your weariness, weakness, tiredness, or frailty, God is more than willing to uphold and sustain you. He will fortify you with power from on high. So wait on His strength and count on Him.

Jesus, I will wait on You. Strengthen me, Lord. Amen.

Excerpted from Trusting God with Today by Charles Stanley, copyright Charles F. Stanley.

Isa 40:31

31 those who wait for the Lord

Will gain new strength;

They will soar on wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary

God would have to be giving me His strength to soar like an eagle because I am afraid of heights! Soaring in every day life is also a difficult task if you are afraid to take risk. We need to take risk to stand for the name and good news of Jesus. Let us spend our lives in the strength God gives every day to live for Him, proclaiming truth to the world that they might believe and receive eternal life… and soar with us!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 25, 2023

Notes of Faith December 25, 2023

A Savior Is Born for You

Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. — Luke 2:11 HCSB

Would it surprise you to know that December 25 probably isn’t the exact day of Jesus’ birth? Many Orthodox Christians, whose churches never adopted the Gregorian calendar, celebrate Christmas on January 7. And what about the calendar year? Would it shock you to know that many biblical scholars believe Christ was born between 6 and 4 BC? We simply do not know the exact date that the angel declared, “Today a Savior… was born.” But that isn’t the most important part of the message.

Whether today ends up being a wonderful day, or if it doesn’t end up as you hoped it would, the events of today are not the most important part of the celebration.

Wherever today finds you, the message is still the same.

Messiah the Lord was born for you! What a life-altering fact!

Jesus did not come to give us a sweet story to tell. He did not come so that we could have a reason to exchange gifts. Christmas Day is about God giving the gift of His Son to you so that you could belong to Him.

The gift is the same whether you are surrounded by family or alone in your living room. It is the same on January 7 as it is on December 25. In fact, not knowing the exact date of Christ’s birth may be a gift in itself. We do not have to limit our adoration to just one day! A Savior was born for us, and that is worth celebrating any day.

Today, let us commit to celebrating God’s gift each day of the year.

So much about You, God, remains a mystery. But knowing You sent Jesus to save us is enough. Thank You for the gift of your precious Son, amen.

Excerpted from Devotions for Christmas, copyright Zondervan.

Merry Christmas! Remember Jesus every day!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 24, 2023

Notes of Faith December 24, 2023

Silent Night, Holy Night

Originally written in German, “Silent Night, Holy Night” is the only one of Joseph Mohr’s works to be translated into English. It was written for a Christmas Eve service at Mohr’s church, but it didn’t catch on for a couple of decades. By the middle of the nineteenth century, however, its popularity had spread. Bing Crosby’s version of this Christmas classic is the fourth best-selling single of all time. (You really can’t go wrong with a Crosby-Christmas combo.)

Over the years, some have questioned the concept of a “silent night” when the song is about a baby being born in a stable. Surely, they claim, there were cries of babe and mother mingled with the noise of various animals. I fear those individuals may have missed the point entirely. It was a silent night in that it was a holy night.

There is a stillness in holiness that causes worldly noise to fade into the background.

Take a moment and read the words to Mohr’s hymn. Think about it not in terms of a birth story but as God entering the world.

Imagine the hush of Heaven as all the host held their breath.

Envision the awe of the shepherds. See a silent Joseph who just witnessed the Son of God being born. Did a cattle low? Sure. A baby cry? Absolutely. But make no mistake. It was a silent, holy night.

Lord, what a holy night it was when love came down to earth.

Excerpted from 100 Favorite Hymns by Stacy Edwards, copyright Thomas Nelson.

Joseph and Mary have arrived in Bethlehem, brought there to be counted in a census for the Roman government. But God brought them there to fulfill prophecy, that Jesus would be born in the town of David. The sky was filled with loud praise and worship by the angels proclaiming the coming of “Immanuel” God with us. The Son of God took on flesh that He might redeem mankind from the curse of sin and bring intimate relationship back with God! Worship Him today and every day. Give thanks for His love for you and tell everyone about the giver of true life and life eternal.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 23, 2023

Notes of Faith December 23, 2023

The Incarnation

LUKE 2

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.” — Luke 2:10-11 NIV

One of the hardest scenarios to process as a human is when we’ve been looking forward to something and it falls apart.

We wait in eager anticipation for it... We tell our friends about it... We dream about the fulfillment of it...

And the moment that it all comes crashing down is devastating.

Maybe it was something you were dreaming up on your own. Or maybe it was a promise made to you by someone else they didn’t keep.

Broken promises and broken dreams lead to broken pieces of our heart.

What a tragedy it would be if all the events and promises in the Old Testament of the coming Messiah never took place. What an immense heartbreak if we opened our Bibles and in the table of contents we only had the Old Testament but not the New Testament. But because of God’s faithfulness, none of these hypothetical heartbreaks are true. And as we’ve journeyed through the Old Testament looking for Jesus, we’ve seen rich evidence over and over again of just how very present Jesus was and is. He’s never been absent.

The Messiah, the Anointed One, was present at every turn of every page in the Old Testament in so many different ways.

01 Think back on all you’ve learned about Jesus. How do these truths encourage your heart in places you may feel disappointed or disillusioned today?

02 How do these truths challenge you to look at something you’re facing with more assurance that the Lord is with you?

For such a long-awaited moment in human history, we may expect the most glorious, highly produced, red-carpet entrance. The most spectacular palace filled with the largest banquet of food and drink. And maybe some orchestra music and a choir singing His praises as He’s so warmly welcomed.

This is what we would expect. In fact, this is exactly what the wise men expected when they saw a sign in the heavens that told of the birth of a new King. This is exactly why the wise men’s first stop was King Herod’s palace (Matthew 2:1–3).

Where else would a future king be born but in a palace?

But King Herod’s palace was empty, and the King of Heaven and earth instead was born in the most unforeseen place: a barn.

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The greatest miracle of all is not just that Jesus came... but that He came down from Heaven to take on human flesh to be with us.

Before we continue studying the incarnation and birth of Jesus, there is some historical background information that’s important for us to grasp.

The emperor of Rome at the time was Augustus, and he was known as the one who brought peace to Rome. In fact, Augustus was such a big deal that he was seen as the hope of the world at the time. We can know this because various historians have noted how:

The empire celebrated him.

Choirs in the palace sang his praises.

He was viewed as a god.

He was thought to have saved Rome.

He allegedly brough peace.

He proved he had power by taxing the people.

Luke is such a brilliant historian in the way he details the birth of Jesus in Luke 2. It’s intentionally designed to help us see how Jesus, in a peculiar way, surpasses everything that Augustus accomplished. But Jesus does this through the most unorthodox ways.

He was born in humble circumstances, yet all of creation celebrates Him.

He had no earthly palace, yet angels sing His praises.

Some denied His divinity, but Jesus is God.

Through self-sacrifice, Jesus saved not only Rome but the entire world.

Jesus did not focus on political peacemaking but brought a more important spiritual peace.

Jesus proved His power not by exerting His authority and causing others to suffer (like Augustus’ taxes) but by laying His own life down and suffering on the Cross.

03 What stands out to you the most as you see the comparison between Augustus and Jesus?

You see, if we expected Jesus to come as a triumphant earthly king and behave in the same way as Augustus, we would have absolutely missed Him. We would have been disappointed, confused, and grown even more weary over time that God was just getting our hopes up. In fact, we probably would have believed that Jesus never even showed up. It would have left us empty and even defeated.

04 How does it encourage you that every single promise of the coming Messiah was fulfilled through Jesus?

The greatest miracle of all is not just that Jesus came... but that He came down from Heaven to take on human flesh to be with us. He could have come in so many other ways that were grander, less every day, and certainly in ways that required much less suffering on His part. But He didn’t choose that. Instead, He came to be with us and suffer alongside us.

05 Take a moment to close today and thank God for sending Jesus to earth and how present He has been and will forever be with you.

Excerpted from 30 Days with Jesus by Lysa TerKeurst and Dr. Joel Muddamalle, copyright Lysa TerKeurst and Dr. Joel Muddamalle.

2 Cor 9:15

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 22, 2023

Notes of Faith December 22, 2023

No More Humbug

One holiday season, A Christmas Carol was the only Christmas play offered in our town, so Barry and I took our then eight-year-old son to a matinee performance. I tried to prepare Christian for the appearance of the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future so he wouldn’t be afraid.

“I’m not afraid of any old ghosts, Mom!” he said indignantly. “It’s just a play — and I’m eight!”

It was a wonderful performance, and as we walked to the car, Barry asked Christian if he’d enjoyed it.

“I did, Dad,” he said. “I loved the ghosts too. I just didn’t like the hamburger guy until the end.”

It took a few moments for us to realize that he was referring to Ebenezer Scrooge and his memorable line, “Bah! Humbug!”

Scrooge is probably the most famously stingy character in all of literature. If you’ve ever read or seen A Christmas Carol, though, you may have noticed that he wasn’t just stingy with his money, but with grace as well.

Scrooge was bitterly critical of everyone — his nephew, his employees, even people going about their business observing the holiday! As a matter of fact, his catchphrase “Bah! Humbug!” has become a universal condemnation. It means “Nonsense!” as in, “All of this Christmas stuff is a bunch of absolute nonsense!”

I have a feeling Ebenezer Scrooge would have gotten along pretty well with the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. Almost every time we run into them in the Gospels, they are self-righteous and mean-spirited, doing their best to catch someone — anyone — in some transgression of the law. Over and over again they go to ridiculous lengths to try to trick Jesus into making a mistake that would call for His arrest.

I think the Pharisees’ strangest moments were when something amazing happened right in front of them. Everyone else in the room was filled with awe and rejoiced… but the Pharisees completely missed it, because they were so focused on the way someone broke the rules!

It’s a sad waste of a life to be a joy-killer. These days I see many modern-day Pharisees perched on social media, just waiting for someone to say something they disagree with so they can pounce. Why would we waste time judging and tearing down people when we could spend our lives looking for ways to bring them joy…

Or praying for those who are struggling…

Or helping those who are hurting… Or spending time with God in His Word and in prayer? A critical spirit is a real joy-killer. Today, let’s make the most of every opportunity to show people God’s beauty and kindness. Let’s splash the world with grace, the gift that keeps on giving!

Be a blessing — spread grace and joy, not judgment.

Five Minutes in the Word

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

— Romans 14:10 ESV

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

— Matthew 7:1-2

Let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. — Romans 14:13 ESV

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.— 2 Peter 3:18

The grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. — Titus 2:11

Excerpted from 5 Minutes with Jesus: A Fresh Infusion of Joy by Sheila Walsh, copyright Sheila Walsh.

The older I get the more my human nature wants to have a “bah-humbug” attitude... everything hurts, nothing works, life is not a bowl of cherries, which by the way I did not like until I tried one. But the joy of the Lord, the Holy Spirit within me lifts me up each day to new heights of what it means to be a child of God, chosen, redeemed, saved, sanctified, and glorified…all because of this baby that we celebrate being born on Christmas day. Without Jesus, there would be no joy, life would be a bitter battle…and then you die…eternally…in judgment that you deserve. But God the Father, sent His Son, Jesus, to take on flesh, to live as we live (without sin), and give Himself as a sacrifice to pay the debt of sin that we could never pay! God loves us so much that He surrounds us with Himself inside and out to those who will believe in Jesus and the saving work that was finished on the cross. One day He promised to come back and take all who believe in Him to live with Him forever, even the dead, (He raised the dead, you know, remember Lazarus? And he was not the only one then!) We have reason to be joyful every day and a promised hope of our Lord’s return. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Pastor Dale