Notes of Faith December 12, 2024

Notes of Faith December 12, 2024

Can’t Keep Quiet

Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.

Luke 2:17

When Robert Annan of Scotland gave his life for Christ, he immediately felt a burden for the lost. A stonemason by trade, he devoted his spare time to witnessing on the streets, often writing Bible verses in chalk on the sidewalks. He witnessed to everyone he met. He drowned at age 32 while saving a boy who fell into the river. Thousands attended his funeral, and afterward a man was seen on his grave, sobbing and saying, “I have been a very wicked man, but the grace of God, perhaps, will do for me what it did for Robert Annan.”

Mark 5:18-20

18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. 19 And He did not let him, but He said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you." 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

When the shepherds left the stable on that first Christmas, they couldn’t keep quiet. They told everyone what they had seen. The disciples did the same after the Resurrection, saying, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

Witnessing means telling others what has happened to you. Let’s pray for spiritual excitement in telling others the wonderful things God has done for us. This season say a word for the Savior.

I love you, and my prayer is that your heart may be broken by the power and love of Christ and His cross.

Robert Annan

Everyone who comes to Christ in faith should not be able to keep quiet. But maybe even you would say that you are a Christian, that you believe in Jesus, and yet have never spoken to anyone of your faith, never proclaimed the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done for all mankind. Those who know Jesus have His Spirit living within them. How can any who proclaim to be saved because of Jesus remain silent day after day. How many days does any of us have. Our lives are meant to reflect the person of Jesus. Believer and follower of Jesus, pray fervently today that God would use you to increase the family of God by sharing the truth with family, friends, coworkers, doctors, grocery store clerks, anyone He and everyone God prompts us through His Spirit to speak with. He will draw them to Himself, to respond to the gospel of Jesus, to come to Him through the gift of faith that He supplies. Speak, speak often of the love, provision and promises of God in Jesus! You will be blessed beyond your greatest dreams!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 11, 2024

Notes of Faith December 11, 2024

The Eternal Son

Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

John 8:58

When Christ was born, eternity invaded time. Jesus Christ is the eternal God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, who entered the lineage of humanity for the purpose of redeeming the world. When He arrived in Bethlehem, it didn’t mark the beginning of His life. He had always been, just as He will always be. He was alive before Abraham!

Douglas McCready in He Came Down From Heaven wrote, “The doctrine of Christ’s preexistence did not result from theological curiosity or speculation. As early as the first decade of the church, Christians saw preexistence as necessary for understanding Christ’s person and significance of human salvation.”1

This means God the Son loves you so much He temporarily vacated the throne in heaven, took upon Himself humanity, accepted death on the cross, and rose to give you eternal life. That’s worth a lifetime of hallelujahs!

The doctrine of preexistence reminds us forcefully that God himself has entered into our circumstance in order to redeem and restore his human creatures along with the rest of his creation. This is the truth that gives meaning and power to Jesus’ affirmation that God so loved the world that he sent his Son to save it.

Douglas McCready

1. Douglas McCready, He Came Down From Heaven (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 11.

John 8:48-59

48 The Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" 49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. 50 "But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. 51 "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death." 52 The Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.' 53 "Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?" 54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, 'He is our God'; 55 and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 57 So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." 59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

NASU

Truth is truth. There are those that do not believe that Jesus was and is the eternal God. That does not make it so. Jesus created all that is and will rule over all of that creation forever. We must praise the eternal God-Father/Son/Holy Spirit for knowing all things from beginning to end, for in love creating us in His image, for giving faith to believe in Him that brings salvation, redemption, and eternal life with our glorious Savior and God! Praise Him from whom all blessings flow!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 10, 2024

Notes of Faith December 10, 2024

A Fruitful Messiah

And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.”

Ruth 4:11

The prophet Micah referred to the town of Bethlehem as “Bethlehem Ephrathah” (Micah 5:2). Ephrathah was identified as “the father of Bethlehem” (1 Chronicles 4:4), and the Ephrathites were the dominant clan. Jesse, the father of King David, was an Ephrathite (1 Samuel 17:12). So the town of Bethlehem became known as “Bethlehem [of] Ephrathah.”

The name Ephrathah came from a word meaning “to bear fruit, to bring forth, to grow, to increase.” When the elders of Bethlehem confirmed that Boaz would take Ruth as his wife, they used the fruitfulness of Rachel and Leah, Jacob’s wives, as the image of fruitfulness they desired for Boaz and Ruth: “May you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.” They didn’t know that the fruit of Boaz and Ruth’s union would be the Messiah to be born centuries later in Bethlehem (Matthew 1:5).

And the fruitfulness of Ephrathah continues today as Christ is “the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).

May we, the spiritual fruit born of Christ, scatter the seed of the gospel, and be fruitful, some producing 30, 60, or 100 times the fruit planted in us.

Seek the blesser, not the blessing, the Giver, not the gift!

Be a blessing to someone this Christmas!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 9, 2024

Notes of Faith December 9, 2024

The House of Bread

Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?

John 7:42

The most popular name for cities and towns in the United States is Washington. Eighty-eight times, the nation’s first President has been memorialized in city names.1 So when someone says they are from Washington, it’s completely legitimate to ask, “Which one?”

The same question might have been asked in biblical times if someone said they were from Bethlehem since there were two. One was in the north in the Galilee region (Joshua 19:15). The other was six miles southwest of Jerusalem in the land of the tribe of Judah. Bethlehem in Judah was the home of the family of Jesse, one of whose sons, David, became the second king of Israel. Thus, Bethlehem was eventually known as the “City of David.” When Caesar instituted a census, Joseph—a descendant of David—took his pregnant wife, Mary, to Bethlehem to register. While there, Jesus was born, fulfilling the prophecy of Micah 5:2.

In Hebrew, Bethlehem meant “house of bread.” How fitting that the One who was the Bread of Life was born in the “house of bread” (John 6:48).

The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable.

Ralph W. Sockman

1. “Most Common City Names in the US,” World Atlas.

Luke 2:15

15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us."

God reveals Himself to mankind! Jesus said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” We may not have seen Jesus with our physical eyes but we have seen Him with our spiritual eyes! We know God through the faith given us to believe in Jesus…who He is, and what He has done, is doing and promises to do. Faith is the Victory that overcomes the world!. Be blessed this Christmas season as you focus on what really matters…your relationship with God!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 8, 2024

Notes of Faith December 8, 2024

He Came to a World Without God

O Immanuel

O come, O come, Immanuel,

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

From Adam and Eve onward, the hope of God’s people has rested on a coming. We are a waiting people, a yearning people, a people who know we need rescue and know that only “the coming one” can bring it (Hebrews 10:37).

“Behold,” the prophet said, the angel told, “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23). They shall call him God with us.

Land of Lonely Exile

At the heart of the human condition lies a deep and unshakable loneliness. We may find ways to mask the feeling, but however many people or pleasures surround us, we are by nature a lonely people on a lonely planet. For whoever and whatever is with us, we are nevertheless “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).

Without God: like body without soul, tree without sap, family without father or mother, earth without sun. The words flash like the sword at Eden’s eastern gate: though with friends, with money, with job, with marriage, with pleasure, with power, with plenty — this one without ruins all. We are inescapably lonely without God. We are spiritually lost.

The hymn calls it our captivity, our lonely exile in a land “under sin” (Romans 3:9). We are like Israel in Egypt or the people of God “by the waters of Babylon” (Psalm 137:1) — but far worse, for our Pharaoh follows us wherever we go, and the rivers of our banishment run through our very soul. Without God, we are in exile everywhere.

Our home does not lie across a Red Sea or a wilderness but across the infinite chasm carved by human sin. So we live and die in a land of lonely exile, us without God. Unless, somehow, one should come named Immanuel, God with us.

Jesus Our Immanuel

Now, in one sense, Israel knew their God as Immanuel before the angel spoke to Mary. Moses wouldn’t leave Sinai unless God went “with us” (Exodus 33:15–16). In desperate moments, the people remembered that “the Lord of hosts is with us” (Psalm 46:6). The temple in particular stood as a precious sign of God’s presence with his people.

But the temple also stood as a trembling testimony of God’s distance from his people. The altar, the doorway, and the veil triple-locked God’s presence in the Most Holy Place from even the most upright of Israelites. Only one person could enter that Most Holy Place — “and he but once a year” (Hebrews 9:7).

In the deepest sense, then, God’s people were exiles even in Israel; they were lonely even in the promised land. However far west they went, they still lived east of Eden, for the angels embroidered on the temple’s veil still “turned every way to guard” the garden we once knew (Genesis 3:24; Exodus 26:31).

“At the heart of the human condition lies a deep and unshakable loneliness.”

We needed something more. We needed a temple “not made with hands” but having hands (Mark 14:58). We needed a Most Holy Place made human, a sanctuary with skin on, a veil born from a virgin. We needed a temple that John could lay his head upon and that Thomas could touch (John 13:23; 20:27). We needed Immanuel to enter the land of our exile. And we needed him to die like we exiles deserve.

And so he did. Jesus came, God with us, to restore relationship through ransom. He came to be Immanuel on the cross, crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). There Jesus embraced our captivity — and took captivity captive. There he entered our exile — and ended it from the inside.

The Son of God came to be with us so that he might experience all that it means to be without God — and so that, on the other side of that loneliest of exiles, our loneliness might come to an end as we say, “My God, my God, why have you welcomed me?”

Alone, Yet Not Alone

At the heart of the human condition lies a deep and unshakable loneliness. But at the heart of the Christian condition lies a deep and unshakable presence. Our sense of exile may linger, and we may feel, at times, the ache of old loneliness. But if we could read the secret script upon our heart, it would no longer say, “without God,” but rather “the beloved of Immanuel.”

Once, we were alone even when most surrounded; now, we are surrounded even when most alone. As Jesus told his disciples, “You . . . will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone” (John 16:32). Alone, yet not alone. So we are too in Christ, for the parting gift of Immanuel was to put another Immanuel in our hearts, the Spirit who is God with us and even God in us (John 14:17).

So even when we feel alone, we are not alone. Our captivity is over, our lonely exile ended. For Jesus, our Immanuel, has come.

He came into this world of sin,

Made flesh and blood his dearest kin;

He died, that he might take us in,

And keep us till he comes again.

Scott Hubbard is the managing editor for Desiring God

God has always been with us from before the world was created. God taking on flesh and dwelling with us brings Him even closer. Ponder and wonder about your God being with you wherever you go. He is near and never leaves. May you be blessed in you walk with God today!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 7, 2024

Notes of Faith December 7, 2024

Ways to Celebrate the Season: Open Your Home

When Jesus was born, there was no vacancy in the inn, but later many people opened their homes to Him. He attended a wedding in Cana in John 2. Peter’s home became His headquarters in Capernaum. In Matthew 9, Jesus dined in the home of Matthew, who became the author of the first Gospel. Mary and Martha entertained our Lord in Luke 10, and Simon the leper held a dinner for Him in Matthew 26. Jesus visited Jairus’ home in Luke 8, where He raised a little girl from the dead. On the night before His crucifixion, our Lord enjoyed the hospitality of a home with a large upper room. Three days later He sat down for supper with a family from the village of Emmaus (Luke 24).

Luke 24:28-35

28 And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. 29 But they urged Him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over." So He went in to stay with them. 30 When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?" 33 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, 34 saying, "The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon." 35 They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

If you knew Jesus would visit your house, you would prepare for Him. Although He cannot now physically come, we are able to serve Him by inviting others needing help, encouragement, provisions, or fellowship.

Jesus always blesses the homes He enters—and He will bless your hospitality this season too.

Show hospitality to a stranger today!

C. S. Lewis

Robin and I often invite people over for special times, events, and seasons. But we have been blessed by having a stranger/acquaintance use our home for a place to sleep between work shifts. We were blessed to have work associates of our children live in our home and enjoyed their lives blending with ours. We were blessed to have international college students share our home as a place to live while attending CSULB. We remember, love, and pray for all of these people and still have contact with some of them. We appreciate God’s work in our lives through these experiences and hope that we will continue to be blessed with many more opportunities. May you consider praying for such opportunities to be blessed by God for someone in need of a meal or a night’s stay and be an influence of the grace of God in your life to them! You could even be blessed by inviting family and friends into your home! Give thanks for the blessing before it comes!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 6, 2024

Notes of Faith December 6, 2024

Ominous Notes

Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Luke 2:34-35

When Jesus was a month old, His parents took Him the five miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, where they ascended the steps up into the temple area to dedicate Him to the Lord. To their surprise, they were greeted by two elderly people who had been looking for the Messiah—Simeon and Anna. Simeon took the child into his arms and uttered a prophecy over Him, but one sentence had an ominous note. He warned Mary a sword would pierce her soul.

Luke 2:25-35

25 And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, 28 then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

29 "Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,

According to Your word;

30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation,

31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

32 A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES,

And the glory of Your people Israel."

33 And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed — 35 and a sword will pierce even your own soul — to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed."

We wish our lives contained no ominous notes! We dread days of bad news, and we all fear moments when a “sword” pierces us. But Mary trusted God, and she lived through her moments of pain to see her Son resurrected from the dead.

Life sometimes has ominous notes, but God always ends with a melody of victory! Trust Him with all the notes of your life.

Trust in His unfailing love—love that moved Him to send a Savior from heaven to restore and rescue you. God’s plans for your life will not be thwarted.

Louie Giglio

As a pastor and parent, I have this simple failure. I dread when the phone rings, (but I always answer), that what I will hear is bad news, any trouble in someone’s life. And yet I also know that God graciously gave me these situations through His love for me and those that are calling. I do not know of anyone in my experience that has lived an ominous free life. How we respond is what is most important. God will lead us through every event, ominous catastrophe, serious trouble, and we will move onward in our walk with Christ! Not even death can win the victory! Let us learn from our ominous times, knowing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are with us, meeting every need, toward eternal perfection!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 5, 2024

Notes of Faith December 5, 2024

Pondering

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Luke 2:19

How are you doing when it comes to pondering? Psalm 107:43 says, “Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord” (NIV). And Psalm 111:2 says, “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them” (NIV).

Phil 4:8-10

8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

The virgin Mary teaches us something about pondering. When Gabriel appeared to Mary, he told her things she could never have imagined or expected. God surprised her with a plan for her life beyond anything she had dreamed. She quickly trusted the message and didn’t hesitate to obey the Lord’s commands. As more information came to light, she pondered it all in her heart.

God often surprises us with twists and turns we don’t expect. All of them are for our benefit and usefulness, but we have to ponder His ways and submit to them in faith and obedience. Proverbs 4:26 says, “Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.”

Take time right now to prayerfully ponder God’s wonderful pathway for your life.

To strengthen faith we must hear God’s Word and ponder God’s doing, the marvelous works of God in our own day.

S. S. Hough

Being in the Word of God and pondering His works has brough me a peace that passes understanding. We must be in the Word of God daily to have this peace of God. Life brings many thins that we do not expect and many are not what we would call good, and yet God uses all things that He allows in our lives to draw us to Himself, to trust Him for our good and His glory! Please strive to be in the Word of God daily, drawing ever close to the One who lives eternally, loves you, and wants you to be with Him forever!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 4, 2024

Notes of Faith December 4, 2024

Steps of Drastic Obedience

Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife.

Matthew 1:24

Joni Eareckson Tada, the well-known Christian encourager and quadriplegic, recently described the progress of her Christian life as a long series of “taking small steps of drastic obedience.” That’s how she has managed a half century in a wheelchair. “Those small moments of drastic obedience end up building a lifetime of integrity,” she said.1

We all progress spiritually by taking small steps of drastic obedience. Consider Joseph! After his dreams were shattered by Mary’s pregnancy, an angel appeared to him in a dream telling him to take Mary as his wife. He was bewildered, but he took the necessary steps of drastic obedience.

How about you? Is there a small step of drastic obedience you should take to further your spiritual growth? What is it? God calls us to respond in obedience whether we understand why or not. Ask God to help you be open to His instruction and willing to be obedient in every situation.

I think I got here from taking small steps of drastic obedience, tiny, little steps forward and a few back. Yes. But always forward, always moving forward, always pushing through the pain.

Joni Eareckson Tada

1. Shannon Woodland, “Small Moments of Drastic Obedience,” CBN, July 1, 2024.

These small steps are not infrequent. They occur every day. Obedience to love God, to worship and serve God and God alone are what bring blessing. When we serve ourselves, false gods, obeying lies, and serving their desires, we reap cursing from God.

We must not only believe in the One true God, but be obedient to His commands, for He is a God of love and desires what is righteous and true for us. Love God. Love others! This will fulfill the commandments of the Lord and lead to great blessing!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith December 3, 2024

Notes of Faith December 3, 2024

Like Father, Like Son

He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”?

John 14:9

We often hear the expression, “Like father, like son”—and similar expressions: “Like mother, like daughter,” “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” and “chip off the old block.” We know the meaning of all these proverbs: The traits and appearance of a mother or father are often replicated in their children. Traits are not perfectly passed on, but seeing parent and child together makes us think, “Oh, I’m not surprised!”

John 5:19-21

19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. 20 "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. 21 "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”

When it comes to Jesus and His Father, appearances are not passed on since “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). But as to traits, Jesus could say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” And Paul wrote of Jesus, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). The writer to the Hebrews said, “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God” (Hebrews 1:3, NLT). No wonder Jesus answered as He did when Philip said, “Show us the Father”!

Many people wonder what God is like. They don’t realize they can discover God’s character by discovering the Person of Jesus Christ.

God is One and in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell all the character and attributes of God. It is easier for us, though we have not seen Jesus, to experience and understand God through the human life of Jesus as described in the gospels. We can know Him truly and fully through believing faith and obedience to the commands of God as given in His Word. The true Christian today has the very Spirit of God dwelling within him. We are His temple and as such a reflection of His character. May we live each day pleasing to the Father, through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in the power of the indwelling Spirit!

Pastor Dale