Advent Devotional

I know I am a little behind, as Advent started last Sunday, but here is an Advent devotional for the holiday season that I go through every year. Its a wonderful time to get into the Word and discover the beautiful truths of Advent as we celebrate the coming of the Lord Jesus and long for his second coming. I hope this devotional will encourage you and ultimately fix your eyes on Jesus, who can and will save us. It also gives you 5 days to catch up over the next month before Christmas if you happen to miss a day, which is always good for people like me who can get behind.

Blogger is confusing about uploading a printable file of this document, but if you want a physical copy to put in your Bible or remind you of the daily reading you can highlight the text below and copy and paste to a word document and print it from there. Sorry for the inconvenience. 

Advent Devotional

“O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.”

First Sunday in Advent (Nov. 25)	Genesis 3: 1-15	The Fall of Man and the first promise of the Messiah is revealed.
Monday (Nov. 26)	Genesis 22:15-18	God promises to faithful Abraham that in his seed all nations of the earth shall be blessed.
Tuesday (Nov. 27)	Isaiah 7:14; 9:2-7	Christ’s birth and kingdom are foretold by the prophet Isaiah
Wednesday (Nov. 28)	Isaiah 11: 1-9	A rod shall come forth from the stem of Jesse.
Thursday (Nov. 29)	Micah 5:2-4	The glory of little Bethlehem is foretold by the prophet Micah
Friday (Nov. 30)	Malachi 4:1-3	The Sun of Righteousness, the Daystar, shall arise
Saturday (Dec. 1)	Isaiah 40:1-11	Comfort ye my people.
Second Sunday in Advent (Dec. 2)	Luke 1:5-25	The birth of John the Baptist is foretold to Zacharias.
Monday (Dec. 3)	Luke 1:26-38	The angel Gabriel’s annunciation to the virgin Mary of the Incarnation
Tuesday (Dec. 4)	Matthew 1:18-25	The angel of the Lord comes to Joseph in a dream.
Wednesday (Dec. 5)	Luke 1:39-56	Mary visits Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist
Thursday (Dec. 6)	Luke 1:57-66	The birth of John the Baptist
Friday (Dec. 7)	Isaiah 60:1-4	Arise, shine! For your light has come.
Saturday (Dec. 8)	Exodus 20:1-17	The Law of God that we in our own strength cannot keep
Third Sunday of Advent (Dec. 9)	Luke 2:1-7	Luke tells of the birth of Jesus
Monday (Dec. 10)	Micah 4:1-7	All nations shall find peace from the God of Jacob
Tuesday (Dec. 11)	Luke 2:8-14	The angels proclaim the birth of Christ to the shepherds
Wednesday (Dec. 12)	Psalm 98	The Lord has made known his salvation
Thursday (Dec. 13)	Luke 2:15-20	The shepherds go to the manger.
Friday (Dec. 14)	Philippians 2:5-11	The humility of Christ.
Saturday (Dec. 15)	Titus 2:11-3:7	The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Fourth Sunday of Advent (Dec. 16)	John 1:1-14	John unfolds the great mystery of the incarnation—the coming of the Lamb of God (part 1)
Monday (Dec. 17)	John 1:15-37	John unfolds the great mystery of the incarnation—the coming of the Lamb of God (part 2)
Tuesday (Dec. 18)	Revelation 5:1-14	John reveals the glory of the completed work of Christ—the exalted Lamb of God.
Wednesday (Dec. 19)	Luke 2:1-7	Luke tells of the birth of Jesus.
Thursday (Dec. 20)	Luke 2:15-20	The shepherds go to the manger.

Faith & Sports: Remembering Sean Taylor

"I have his picture up just to remind me of what's important." -- Ed Reed (Safety for the Baltimore Ravens)

5 years ago today, Sean Taylor (Safety for the Washington Redskins) was shot in his home in Florida and died at the hospital shortly after. Moses prayed in the Psalms that the Lord would, "teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). No one likes to think about death, but remembering how fragile our short lives are creates in us a dependence on God and makes us cling to the Savior, who not only saved us from sin & death (John 11:25), but has also given us an abundant life with Him for eternity (John 10:10, John 3:16).

Watch this video of his friends reminiscing about Sean and hopefully pray and weep with them, while overflowing with thanksgiving to a God that gives us life through his Son's life, death, and resurrection.

Please pray for Sean's family, teammates, and friends that they would know the love of Christ and that God is good even in the deepest suffering.

Music for the Soul: Holiday

Fiction Family

From the noisetrade website:

Fiction Family is the adventurous, acoustic-oriented collaboration between Switchfoot's Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins, who, utilizing what little time they had between tours, began creating homemade recordings back in 2005.

In anticipation of their January 2013 release, 'Fiction Family Reunion,' Fiction Family is giving fans a free Holiday EP, featuring tracks from their new release.

Get the Holiday EP here for free and check out their new single, "We ride"

Becoming a Man: Crawford Loritts

I saw this post on Justin Taylor's blog on the gospel coalition, "Between two worlds". It was from him and I loved it and wanted to share it. All credit to him and Crawford Loritts for his forward and of course to God, who saved both of these men and redeemed their wonderful gifts for the glory of His name.

This will be the first post in a series on Stepping Up: A Call to Courageous Manhood that will hopefully encourage and convict guys to "step up" and become the men God has called them to be in Jesus. 

Enjoy the video and the unbelievable wisdom of Crawford Loritts on the subject of becoming a man.


Crawford Loritts, from the foreword to Dennis Rainey’s book, Stepping Up: A Call to Courageous Manhood (Family Life, 2011):

---

When I was twelve years old, I experienced a “defining moment.”  Don’t get me wrong; it wasn’t some uncommon extraordinary experience.  It wasn’t a brush with death.  I hadn’t contracted some debilitating disease.  Neither had I been traumatized by some predator.  It was what my father did and what my mother stopped doing that marked me deeply for the rest of my life.  And it happened in less than five minutes.

It all had to do with painting.  The family who rented a property my parents owned moved out, and there was some “fixing up” and painting that needed to be done before the new tenets moved in.  My father thought this would be a great project for the entire family to tackle, so on a Saturday morning, my dad, my mother, my two older sisters, and yours truly reported for duty.  Mom and my sisters were working on the first floor, and my job was to help Pop paint on the second floor.  And that was the problem.  I never did like to paint.  I didn’t then, and I don’t now.So I had to somehow figure out a way to be free of what I thought was an unnecessary burden.  My “ace in the hole” was my mother.  Mom was always more sympathetic to her precious little boy than Dad was, and I knew that if I pressed the right buttons, she would rescue her one and only son from spending his Saturday doing something he didn’t want to do.  So under the guise of having to use the bathroom, I went downstairs and began to complain to Mom.While I was in the middle of convincing my mother that I needed to take off and play with my friends, Pop showed up.  As I write these words, I am vividly remembering and reliving that momen.My mother said to my father, “Crawford, CW (my childhood nickname) is only twelve years old, and he doesn’t need to be here with us all day.  He needs to be enjoying himself with his friends.”Then my father said, “Sylvia, I got this.  That boy one day is going to be somebody’s husband and somebody’s father.  There are going to be people depending on him.  He has got to learn how to do what he has to do and not what he wants to do.”To my mother’s credit, she looked at me and then at my father, nodded in agreement, and turned away.  Pop then turned to me and said, “You take yourself upstairs and paint until I tell you to stop.”
And I did.
Even at twelve years old, I knew that something important had just happened.  It wasn’t that I had just lost a little skirmish, and this time I wasn’t going to get my way.  The words “somebody’s husband . . . somebody’s father” and “He has got to learn how to do what he has to do and not what he wants to do” kept replaying in my mind.  Of course I wasn’t fully aware of the weight of what had happened.  In fact, it would be years before I fully appreciated the significance of that Saturday morning.  But I did have the sense that what just happened was a gamed changer.
My mother knew that in order for her boy to become a man, the most important man in his life needed to shape him.  Pop knew that in order for his son to provide leadership and stability to those who would count on him one day, “CW” needed to embrace core lessons in manhood, obligation, and responsibility.
A transition took place that day, and I’m so glad it did.  In a very real sense, it was what some would call a “rite of passage.”  My dad knew that in order for me not to become a fifty-year-old adolescent, I needed to make some intentional steps toward manhood.  I can’t tell you how grateful I am to God for the gift of Pop’s courage, and that he wasn’t passive when it came to my development.

Everything Thanksgiving: Articles from around the Web

Here are several different posts and articles all about thanksgiving: from how it started to different myths, even how to deal with the chaos of the holidays. Have a wonderful thanksgiving of enjoying God and the marvelous gifts he has given us in family, friendships, and food. Also, for our own joy let's make an extra effort to live with each other this week and not spend our time loving on our technology, instead of our family.
                                                                                                                                                       

The Myths of Thanksgiving: Collin Hansen

What Really Happened on the 1st Thanksgiving: Justin Taylor

How to Deal with Holiday Family Tensions: Russell Moore

Making the Most of Turkey Time: Thanksgiving on Mission : David Mathis

Happy Thanksgiving: What the Bible says about giving thanks : Mark Driscoll


Also, here are some good Black Friday deals that you also might enjoy:

Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2012 Deals for Christians: Tim Challies

Music for the Soul: Gospel Whiskey Runners

Gospel Whiskey Runners

For Fans of:
Ryan Adams, The Head and the Heart, John Mark McMillan

Get their album free from noisetrade.

Check out one of their live songs from the album: "The Wound"

Wondering into Worship

It's hard to concretely think about worship and maybe that's the point. Maybe worship isn't something we're supposed to be able to explain or put a finger on. There is a great deal of wonder associated with worship because wonder is the basis of worship.

There will never be a perfect definition of what worship is supposed to be, but this is one of the best attempts I've read on defining what worship is. Please feel free to comment and add what worship is to you.

"Worship is when you’re aware that what you’ve been given is far greater than what you can give. Worship is that awareness that were it not for his touch, you’d still be hurting, bitter and broken. Worship is the half-glazed expression on the parched face of a desert pilgrim as he discovers that the oasis is not a mirage. When we try to make a science out of worship—we can’t do it. No more than we can “sell love” or “negotiate peace.” Worship is a voluntary act of gratitude offered by the saved to the Savior, by the healed to the Healer, and by the delivered to the Deliverer. Worship is the 'thank you' that refuses to be silenced." -- Max Lucado

When we learn to wonder, we'll learn to worship.

"I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

I will ponder all your work,

and meditate on your mighty deeds.

Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is great like our God?

You are the God who works wonders;

you have made known your might among the peoples.

You with your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah" (Psalm 77:11-15)

What does worship mean to you? Feel free to comment and add to the discussion. 

Never the Same / Pioneers-USA

The Sawi were headhunters and cannibals when a young couple named Don and Carol Richardson arrived in their village carrying their seven-month-old boy Steve—and a message that would change the tribe forever. The year was 1962, and Steve—and later, three more children—spent their youth among the Sawi, learning the language and embracing the culture in ways that would shape the rest of their lives. Their story was immortalized in the best-selling book Peace Child and a feature film of the same name, inspiring a new generation to take the gospel to the remaining isolated tribes of the earth.

Fifty years later, Steve joins his father, Don, and two brothers, Shannon and Paul, to visit the Sawi village where they grew up. What is the state of the church they planted among the Sawi? Are the friends they played with still alive? Will anyone remember the mark their family left on the tribe? Journey with Steve as he travels to the swamps of Papua, Indonesia, to introduce you to the Sawi, and explore the impact of the gospel among a previously unreached people group. (All information from the pioneers website)

- For more information on Pioneers, visit pioneers.org.
- Check out "Never the Same" on Facebook at facebook.com/neverthesamemovie
- To order "Never the Same" on DVD or Blu-ray Disc, visit pioneers.org/store.

Never the Same from Pioneers-USA on Vimeo.

Can't Help It Disease

I love talking to my Dad on the phone. We don't get to talk as much as we used to, but if everything is going as planned, we usually get to talk once a week from anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes. What I love about talking to my Dad is that no matter what question you ask or what's going on in your life the conversation is heading toward hunting and/or fishing. Its just going to happen. There's no avoiding it. So here's a typical conversation:

 "Hey Dad what are you doing?"

"Well Luke, I'm sitting here looking out the window. I've seen two huge bucks walk through since early this morning and wanted to see if I could catch another glimspe of them. I've got them on my camera though so I'll send you a picture on email. (Side note: I have never once been hunting)

"That's awesome. So what have you and mom been up to?"

"I just back from Rockcastle. I went on a two-day hunt over there."

"Ok, so what are you having for dinner?"

"Yeah, I definitely want to hunt again soon and hopefully I'll get to go back to Florida to check on some things and get to fish some while I'm down there."

The last one is exaggerated, but you get the picture. He loves the outdoors and he's got a bad case of the "can't help it" disease. He "can't help" but to talk about what he loves: fishing and/or hunting. No matter how hard you try to divert him from the topic, he keeps coming back to it multiple times. Whether you want to talk about it or not, it's happening.

In a sermon on mission from Acts, Pastor Tim Brister of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL mentioned that the disciples suffered from a similar ailment. It says when Peter and John were put on trial before the council their simple defense for why they were spreading the gospel with such boldness and authority was this:

"Whether is is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20)

Wow. Is this true of us? Have we so treasured Christ and what he has done for us in his life, death, and resurrection that every time our mouths open the gospel spews out? To be so captured by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ that we just have to talk about the gospel with everyone we know: believers, nonbelievers, friends, neighbors, colleagues, classmates, teammates, etc. The hard truth is: we talk about what we most love and what we're most passionate about. "Out of the abundance of the heart our mouths speak" (Luke 6:45).

What are you talking about? What fills most of your conversation on a daily basis? This is what has captured your heart. This is what you most love.

May we all discover that the gospel alone has the power to save and the gospel alone is worthy of our hearts and our tongues. May the gospel so saturate our lives that we talk about it, not out of guilt or obligation, but because Jesus has done such a beautiful work in our lives, that we just can't seem to talk about anything else.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)

Music for the Soul: Idea of Happiness

This week I'm not featuring a band, but rather a song. It is from a band named Van She and the song is called Idea of Happiness. Even better we have the song behind a dance video of WKU Cru made by Andrew Yontz. Enjoy and try to dance a little today (Psalm 150:4)

Saved to Walk -- by Dave Harvey

In discipleship, I have been reading through a book called Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey and it is a gold mine into the riches of Christ. I can't remember a simple book I've enjoyed this much and I wanted to share a excerpt from it that hopefully you'll enjoy as much as I did:

"To be rescued from something sets us on path toward something. The One who saved us is now calling us to walk. Though snatched from spiritual death, we soon discover that the Christian life isn't an arrival -- its an adventure. We experience a rescue, then we're pointed to a path.

The apostle Paul describe this active view of the Christian life in his letter to the Ephesians, urging them to 'walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called' (Eph. 4:1). This is a brief command, and its easy to rush past it. But this isn't a toss-off request. It's the center of Paul's letter, the bridge between truth and life, and it's crucial for us to understand what Paul is saying.

To this point, Paul has spent three chapters of this epistle exulting in what Christ has accomplished for us:

• We were chosen in Christ (Eph. 1:4)
• We were predestined for adoption (Eph. 1:5)
• We've been given an inheritance (Eph. 1:11)
• We were raised up with Christ (Eph. 2:6)
• We're reconciled to God (Eph. 2:16)
• We're blessed with unsearchable riches in Christ (Eph. 3:8)

In the final three chapters of Ephesians, Paul looks at the practical implications of what he has said in the chapters 1-3 -- what effect this redemption has on our actions, our words, and our relationships.

In Ephesians 4:1, Paul is building the bridge between doctrine and duty, principle and practice, creed and command. Bridges aren't for standing; they're for getting somewhere. Paul is saying, 'Synchronize your walk with what Christ has accomplished. Since you're declared righteous, now walk righteous. Since you're declared holy, purify your ambitions and actions. B.B. Warfield describes this as Paul's 'ringing appeal ... to live up to our privileges.' Become in faith what God has declared you to be in Christ. "

Multiply with Francis Chan and David Platt

Francis Chan and David Platt are starting a new movement called the multiply movement that is at its core a simple, practical, biblical, helpful, and personal tool for disciples of Jesus who want to make disciples of Jesus.

The cheapest place to get the Multiply book is here. It seems like an amazing resource to equip you for discipleship or to walk through with someone in disciplining. 

They will be having 2 live simulcasts this weekend:

1. Birmingham, AL - This gathering will be held at The Church at Brook Hills on Friday, November 9, 2012 7-10pm CST
2. San Francisco, CA - This gathering will take place at the SF City Impact on Saturday, November 10, 2012 6-9 PST.

You can register for the free webcast here, where you can watch it with a group in your hometown and also check out some videos from the Multiply movement

A Reason to Sing

"The goal of Theology, friends, is Doxology" -- J.I. Packer

Knowledge of who God is and what He's doing should always inspire heartfelt praise and adoration. Theology is not the end, but the means to a greater end. An end that we were created for: to worship and glorify the Creator (Isaiah: 43:7). Theology that doesn't stir our hearts to greater affections of Jesus Christ is worthless and ultimately sin. It puffs up (1 Cor. 8:1) and leads into a religion that's more based on our works, than the finished work of Jesus Christ (John 19:30).

Moving from Theology to Doxology

What's great about theology is that it's simply the study of God. It's not necessarily digging into deep scholarly works and spending months and months in the library. Theology is learning more about the nature and character of God. What's so wonderful about this is that when we study God for the sake of knowing Him, it will produce greater praise and worship in our lives. The closer we get to God, the more truths we learn about Him,  and the more reasons we will have to praise Him. The Bible gives us several examples of men, who probably weren't in the youth choir growing up, that are singing praises and songs to God because they had a very intimate relationship with a God they knew and loved.

Moses: Slow of Speech & Tongue

Moses, one of the great heroes of the faith (Hebrews 11: 23-29), really struggled when God first called out to Him because of his apparent speech impediments (Exodus 4:10). There are many wonderful things about the life of Moses, but one of my favorite parts of the Bible comes 11 chapters later, in Exodus 15. Moses who once described himself as inadequate and "slow in speech and tongue" breaks out into glorious song to the Lord (Exodus 15:1-21). He got a glimpse of who God is: the great I AM (Exodus 3:14), and what God was doing: liberating the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and triumphing over their enemies with the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14). The Theology of God turned into the Doxology of Moses in Exodus 15:

"Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, 'I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him." -- Exodus 15:1-2

Paul: Praises of a Persecutor 

Paul is the most self-righteous, Pharisee of all time & also the most blatant sinner as well (Phil. 3:5-6). In fact, he says the very reason God saved him was to put on display that nobody is too sinful or too far gone for God's grace to cover them (1 Tim. 1:16). Paul, who persecuted and killed dozens and dozens of Christians, meets King Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-19) and his eyes are opened to the glorious beauty of God through His son. Paul writes some deep and hard theological truths throughout the new testament and they usually conclude with a song. The deep truths of God revealed by the Holy Spirit in Paul's life led him into greater worship and praise that overwhelms him to the point of explicit song. Scholars call the last portion of Romans 11, Paul's Doxology. As Paul continues to know God more deeply, he can't help but break out into praise:

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord,or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." -- Romans 11:33-36 

This isn't just a one time thing for Paul. Doxology and praise marked his life. In his prayer to the church at Ephesus, he is praying that they might begin to understand the "breadth and length and height and depth of knowing the love of Christ" (Eph. 3:18-19) and in the midst of his prayer he breaks out into praise:

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." -- Ephesians 3:20-21

More Than Enough

If you woke up this morning and are reading this post right now, than you already have more than enough reasons to sing. Think about this for a second: The Lord of everything, who breathed all that your eyes can see into existence, not only allows us to live on his beautiful creation even though we sin against him over and over (Romans 3:23), but he also sent His son to be the perfect sacrifice (Romans 3:24-25) so that we could enjoy life abundantly (John 10:10) and forever with Him. We should ooze praise because He has saved us. His "grace is sufficient for us" (2 Cor. 12:9) and grace alone gives us reasons upon reasons to sing.

May we join Moses today and praise the One who is, and was, and is to come in triumphing over sin & death: "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously" (Exodus 15:1).

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

        (Doxology / Thomas Ken, 1674)