Pastor’s Weekly Note, January 27, 2012

As it was with Nehemiah, you will have someone who is opposed to you stepping out and trying to accomplish the vision that God has laid on your heart.

That opposition comes in many different ways.  It could be subtle, it could be blatant, it could be internal, it could be external.  Whatever the way, opposition will come.

Why?

Vision is about change and change disrupts people’s lives.  It disrupts people’s schedules.  It makes people uncomfortable.

That’s exactly what happens in Nehemiah 4 as the work continues on the wall of Jerusalem.  In that chapter we’re going to see an external pressure being put on the people of Jerusalem, one that threatens the work of rebuilding the wall so much so that Nehemiah has to make some changes in how they do things so that the work stays on target.

The fact of the matter is anytime you are moving on and trying to accomplish the vision God gives you, there will be opposition, and there will be changes or modifications you will have to make in order for that vision to be realized.

It’s not the vision that changes, but the way you try to accomplish that vision will change, possibly many times, so that you can accomplish what God puts on your heart.

When I first came back to Calvary in 2004, I shared a sermon about the people crossing the Jordan and entering the land.  We picked up stones and deposited them into a container to signify we would follow God wherever He wanted to lead us.  Attached to that was the vision of “Going, growing, and sowing”.

When you think of it, the vision we have today of “Making disciples who make disciples” is really no different from that.  Sure the wording is changed, but the idea is still the same.  We’re to be connecting people to Jesus (that’s the going), building disciples who follow Jesus (that’s the sowing), and cultivating leaders who walk as Jesus (that’s the growing).

But how we are trying to accomplish that is different… we have a Community Center that is a light in a dark city.  We can touch lives for Christ in ways we never imagined or could even do in the church facilities.  We have family meals on Wednesday evenings that are designed for people to gather, develop relationships and have the opportunity to share Christ.  We have a Keenager’s group that is comprised of almost half non-churched people who are exposed to Christ in a positive way.  We have Connections between Sunday School and the Service for the express purpose of building the needed fellowship that we often don’t have time for in our hectic and chaotic week.

Different methods, same vision.

Does everything run smoothly?  No.  Can improvement be made?  Yes.  Is there criticism?  You bet ya.  That only means we need to continue to evaluate, improve, change, sharpen… all that.  But the vision will still remain.

Perhaps the biggest question I have in all of this is: What is God laying on your heart?  How does He want you involved in the vision at Calvary?  Keep praying and seeking!!!

Are you ready?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Russ

Pastor’s Weekly Note, January 20, 2012

Through our series in Nehemiah, we’ve defined vision as looking at what is and seeing what should be, what it could be.  And we’ve stated all along that as a follower of Christ, one of the crucial parts of our vision needs to include the command to “Go and make disciples”.

We cannot be separated from that, and I’m praying through our series that we all would have a crystal clear understanding of our part in fulfilling the Great Commission.

How can you be used to influence people where you live, people where you work, people that you regularly rub shoulders with, people you come into contact with through the ministries we offer, for Christ?

Nehemiah has shown us the vision God placed on his heart… to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.  It was an enormous task, and yet he served an enormous God, so what is seen as impossible through earthly eyes is nothing but possible through the working of God in people that want to honor Him and rally around Nehemiah’s unifying vision.

Remember Nehemiah’s words to the people in Nehemiah 2:18: “And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me.  And they said, ‘Let us rise up and build.’  So they strengthened their hands for the good work.”

The people have bought into the vision and move full steam ahead to complete it.  That’s what chapter three is all about… that’s what we’ll see this Sunday.

I must admit, as I read though Nehemiah, part of me is in awe of what is accomplished.  Here was a defeated people accomplishing something that is impossible.

The other part of me, at times, is filled with jealousy.  I couldn’t think of a better descriptive word, so let me try and define what I’m going through as I read what happens.

Why isn’t that us?

Why aren’t we all involved in Connecting people with Jesus, Building disciples who follow Jesus, Cultivating leaders who walk as Jesus?  Why are we all involved in the process of making disciples who make disciples?

Are we too busy?

Do we think we don’t have a part to play?

Do we not care?

Some have said I’ve been going through this series because of some of the possibilities of selling or leasing the community center.  Some have said I’m doing this series because of our financial issues or commitment priorities we face.

None of that’s why.

I’m working through this series because it is where we should be.  Yes, there are many similarities to what we’ve experienced with purchasing and renovating down the street.  Yes, the buy-in factor demonstrated by the Israelites far outshines our buy-in level for ministry here.  But what’s important to understand is this whole look at vision comes out of what we’ve been looking at prior… who we are in Christ and the work the Holy Spirit has done in us.

As we unify under the vision God has given to us here, we can’t but help express to any around, the change that has taken place in us through Christ.  We’re not doing church simply because that’s what we’ve always done.

As people that are no better than anyone else, we gather together to worship our great God and to allow the Christ in us to minister to any we come into contact with.  We all have our short-comings, our failures, our faults, and a common unifying factor that enables us to learn, love and share together… we are complete in Christ.

Nehemiah gives us a great picture of how the vision that God gave was used to unify a people to accomplish something thought to be impossible.

What we have going on at Calvary isn’t impossible… but is possible only through the working of almighty God in the lives of ordinary people.

Are you ready?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Russ

Pastor’s Weekly Note, January 13, 2012

It seems like forever that I’ve been wearing glasses.  Actually, I’ve worn glasses since I was in second grade.  I started out with the wonderful “horned-rim” glasses; you know the kind that were very pointy where the bow met the rim.  From there I advanced to wire rim and then rimless and have finally settled on the kind I wear today.  (Although it may be time to change them)

At first my lenses were made of glass, but then as my prescription continued to worsen, I had to switch to a lighter material because regular glass lenses made my glasses too heavy, and it looked as if I were wearing the bottoms of coke bottles.

Needless to say, I’ve spent a large amount of time with the eye doctor, trying to make sure that my vision was corrected with my lenses.  That reminds me… I’m going to need to make an eye appointment soon.  It’s been over two years since I was last seen by the eye doctor (that’s probably a modern-day record for me!).

One of the tools the eye doctor uses is an eye examination machine.  I don’t know the technical name for it, but it is the one where you look through it and the doctor keeps switching the lenses and asking you if the image you see is better or worse, sharper or duller.

I think we all know this, but it is not the doctor that gives you vision.  What he does is work through a process to clarify and sharpen your vision.  He takes what you already have and he works with you so that what you already have and what’s been given to you by God is sharper and clearer.

This coming Sunday morning we’re going to be talking about God taking us through a similar process.  As we’ve been reading through the book of Nehemiah, we’ve seen the birth of a vision in Nehemiah’s life.  In the tension of what was and what could be, a vision was birthed in Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem.

We’ll continue this look at Nehemiah in Nehemiah 2:11-18.  We’ll see two principles through this section that will aid us as we individually begin to see God’s vision for our lives, and then how those two principles affect us corporately.

Some may question why we are doing the things we’re doing.  Things aren’t the same as they’ve always been.  That’s a pretty accurate assessment.  And the reason we’re doing different things and that things aren’t as they’ve always been is because vision is about change.  We don’t like change because it disrupts lives, it disrupts schedules.  But the fact of the matter is that whenever you allow a vision to be birthed in your heart and you commit to it and take hold of it with both hands, you will rock a few boats, and you will make people uncomfortable.  You yourself will be uncomfortable.

I’m sure Nehemiah was uncomfortable with what God laid on his heart, and yet it didn’t stop him from doing what he did.  A major reason for him continuing on and doing what he did was because God was able to clarify and sharpen his vision, all the while he was working in other hearts with the same burden that was in Nehemiah.

Folks, we are not alone in what we’re doing.  God has banded us together at Calvary to accomplish His purpose and His plans, to Connect people with Jesus, to Build disciples who follow Jesus, and to Cultivate leaders who walk as Jesus… to make disciples who make disciples.  Sure, we’re fewer than we were a few years ago, but I believe that God has us right where He wants us so that we can watch and see what He does through us and we can have no doubt that it was Him that did it.  The challenge is: are you capturing God’s vision for your life?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Russ

Pastor’s Weekly Note

January 13, 2012

It seems like forever that I’ve been wearing glasses.  Actually, I’ve worn glasses since I was in second grade.  I started out with the wonderful “horned-rim” glasses, you know the kind that were very pointy where the bow met the rim.  From there I advanced to wire rim and then rimless and have finally settled on the kind I wear today.  (Although it may be time to change them)

At first my lenses were made of glass, but then as my prescription continued to worsen, I had to switch to a lighter material because regular glass lenses made my glasses too heavy, and it looked as if I were wearing the bottoms of coke bottles.

Needless to say, I’ve spent a large amount of time with the eye doctor, trying to make sure that my vision was corrected with my lenses.  That reminds me… I’m going to need to make an eye appointment soon.  It’s been over two years since I was last seen by the eye doctor (that’s probably a modern-day record for me!).

One of the tools the eye doctor uses is eye examination machine.  I don’t know the technical name for it, but it is the one where you look through it and the doctor keeps switching the lenses and asking you if the image you see is better or worse, sharper or duller.

I think we all know this, but it is not the doctor that gives you vision.  What he does is work through a process to clarify and sharpen your vision.  He takes what you already have and he works with you so that what you already have and what’s been given to you by God is sharper and clearer.

This coming Sunday morning we’re going to be talking about God taking us through a similar process.  As we’ve been reading through the book of Nehemiah, we’ve seen the birth of a vision in Nehemiah’s life.  In the tension of what was and what could be, a vision was birthed in Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem.

We’ll continue this look at Nehemiah in Nehemiah 2:11-18.  We’ll see two principles through this section that will aid us as we individually begin to see God’s vision for our lives, and then how those two principles affect us corporately.

Some may question why we are doing the things we’re doing.  Things aren’t the same as they’ve always been.  That’s a pretty accurate assessment.  And the reason we’re doing different things and that things aren’t as they’ve always been is because vision is about change.  We don’t like change because it disrupts lives, it disrupts schedules.  But the fact of the matter is that whenever you allow a vision to be birthed in your heart and you commit to it and take hold of it with both hands, you will rock a few boats, and you will make people uncomfortable.  You yourself will be uncomfortable.

I’m sure Nehemiah was uncomfortable with what God laid on his heart, and yet it didn’t stop him from doing what he did.  A major reason for him continuing on and doing what he did was because God was able to clarify and sharpen his vision, all the while he was working in other hearts with the same burden that was in Nehemiah.

Folks, we are not alone in what we’re doing.  God has banded us together at Calvary to accomplish His purpose and His plans, to Connect people with Jesus, to Build disciples who follow Jesus, and to Cultivate leaders who walk as Jesus… to make disciples who make disciples.  Sure, we’re fewer than we were a few years ago, but I believe that God has us right where He wants us so that we can watch and see what He does through us and we can have no doubt that it was Him that did it.  The challenge is: are you capturing God’s vision for your life?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Russ

Pastor’s Weekly Note, January 6, 2012

My uncle Bill used to love to do logic problems… you know, the kind where you would be given all different kinds of information, and your job was to figure out an order, a sequence or a pattern.  I remember watching him work through a couple of those and seeing him write down all the different possibilities before settling on what he felt was the right answer.  Most of the time, he was correct in what he figured out.

I couldn’t do those problems.  After a reasonable length of time of deducing and figuring, I always thought I had the right answer.  But when it would come time to compare my answer with the real solution, I was most often wrong.

Talk about frustrating.

I’m glad those problems weren’t real life.  If they were, I’d be in some serious trouble!

Those types of puzzles, however, do have somewhat of a similarity to real life.  In those puzzles, when you get what you believe is the right answer and you compare it to the true correct answer, you can look back over your figuring and see where you made your mistake(s).

That’s kind of like living your life without a clear, guiding vision for your life.  You get toward the end of your days and look back on your accomplishments and wonder if you did the right things, went in the right direction, accomplished what you were supposed to.

Last week we started a series in the book of Nehemiah looking at vision.  We saw several advantages of having vision in our lives, and really the freedom that you gain when you operate with vision.  But one point I shared, I didn’t dwell very long on… the fact that if you’re a believer in Christ, you are not your own.  You have been bought with a price.

It is so easy to live for ourselves.  Isn’t that how many products are marketed and sold today?  “You owe it to yourself.”  “Be all that you can be.”  “I’m loving it.”  The list is really endless.

Let me remind you once again, Christian.  When you became a Christian, when I became a Christian, we lost our right to dream dreams, and establish goals, and establish visions for our life to the exclusion of Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations.

That has a direct effect upon our church.  And we’ll see that this week as we look at Nehemiah 2:1-8.

What it boils down to is that vision builds our faith by serving as a constant reminder of our dependence on God.  And that is ultimately what God is after, inside of each of us.

We’ve been talking about that for some time.  It’s the whole thought of walking in the Spirit, of allowing the Christ in you to live through you, of walking like Jesus walked.  And that doesn’t happen through your own control… it is a supernatural thing.  A God thing.

It directly affects us as a church, as well.  If we’re to be operating according to vision, then we need to be organized that way.  We need to be operating strategically, and we need to budget in order to accomplish our vision.  My guess is that will make things look differently than they do now.  But ultimately, we need to remember that it’s not about us… it is all about Him, and doing the things He wants us to be doing.

Are You Ready,

Grace and Peace

Pastor Russ

Pastor’s Weekly Note December 30, 2011

2012 is almost upon us!

Will the end of the world happen this year as the Mayan’s predicted and as is showcased in many different books and movies?  Will a republican win back the White House or will it remain in the grasp of a democrat?  Will the Bills finally win a Superbowl?  Oh, yeah, forget about that last one.  They aren’t in the playoffs this year (again!).

Will Christ return?

I don’t know any of that stuff, and really, the only important thing to me of that list is the last one… will Christ return this year.  Scripture says that no one knows the time.  The only certainty we have in relation to Christ’s return is that it’s going to happen.

The big question… are you ready for it?

I’m not saying you should be having rapture practices or anything like that, but how’s your spiritual life and are you living as if Christ could come back at any time?

We get so entangled in so much, that often times we are living for the here and now, living for the moment, when really we should be living with eternity in view and as a result looking to have as many people as possible in eternity with us.That takes vision.

What’s your vision for the next year?  Do you even have a vision for the next year and the years after next?

As we get ready to enter 2012 we’re going to spend some time talking about vision, and we’ll do that by looking through the book of Nehemiah.  This Sunday we’ll be looking at Nehemiah 1:1-11, and my message title is “Preparing For 2012… And Beyond”.  The beyond part of that is important because when we talk about vision, we’re really talking about things beyond the here and now, we’re talking about eternity.

Through what we’re going to be looking at with Nehemiah, we’ll see why vision is so important and through Nehemiah’s example we’ll see the formula that God took to have that vision born in Nehemiah’s life.  It truly is an intriguing look.

I’m going to lay this out front for you to know where I’m going with this series: My desire is for us to be a group of people that have a vision where we are organized, we have strategized and have budgeted to accomplish that vision.  That doesn’t mean we create a bunch of programs that we’ve got to maintain forever and ever, but that we would be a vision, mission driven people, and God has the freedom to do through us whatever He wants to do.

Wouldn’t that be cool?

Are You Ready,

Grace and Peace

Pastor Russ

Just a reminder… We only have Service this Sunday at 10:50am.  Next week we will be back to our normal schedule, with Sunday School at 9:15am, Connections at 10:15am, and Service at 10:50am

Pastor’s Weekly Note, December 22, 2011

I wonder what it was like on the night Christ was born.

Was it a quiet night?  Probably not, knowing that because of the sudden influx of people into the town of Bethlehem for the census, there would have been more activity than normal.

Was Joseph fearful?  My guess would be yes.  Here he was with a young bride, far from home, and she goes into labor.  Would he know what to do?  Would he be able to get someone to assist in the birth?  Would he be able to care for his growing family?

There were probably many other things flooding his thoughts.  Maybe he was thinking of what the angel said to him in his dream: “That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  How was that going to take place?  When would that take place?  Why me?

What about Mary?  She, like Joseph, is away from everybody she knows, she’s giving birth to her firstborn, and it’s in a stable, of all places.  How will she be as a mother?  How difficult the journey back to Nazareth is going to be, now that there will be three instead of two.

Maybe her thoughts go back to what the angel told her: “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”  And like Joseph, she’s probably thinking, Why me?

And then Jesus is here.

Scripture doesn’t go into great detail about the birth.  About all it says is that the baby was wrapped in swaddling cloths and placed in a manger.

That had to be a weird environment.  Taking up residence in a stable and putting a new born baby in a feeding trough.  And yet, when you think of it, Jesus’ beginning fit his later years when he said “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).

And then the shepherds were there.  The angel didn’t tell them to go and see, they went on their own initiative.  Luke 2:15b records their words: “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

Imagine their excitement.  Imagine their wonder.  Were they waiting for a Savior?  Did they even recognize they needed one?  Wherever they were, they hurried to Bethlehem to the stable and told everyone they could about what they had seen and been told.  And then as quickly as they came, they left, but they were changed as they glorified and praised God.

How has Christmas changed you?  We have been given the greatest gift, it far outshines any present you’ve ever bought for someone or have been given by someone else.  And these simple shepherds were changed not because by mere words of an angel, but as it says in Luke 2:20, “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”  They were able to verify the words of the angel, embodied in a tiny baby in a feeding trough.

May this Christmas find you rejoicing in that great gift of Jesus, changed because of what He has done in you, and excited for what He will continue to do in and through you.  Merry Christmas!

Pastor Russ

Pastor’s Weekly Note, Friday, December 16, 2011

Listen to these words from the apostle Paul in Galatians 4: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’  So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

These aren’t words that are generally associated with the Christmas story.  But as I look at them, read them and re-read them, I find them vital to the Christmas story.

Last week we looked at Zechariah and Elizabeth’s story surrounding Christmas.  This week through these words, we’re going to look at our story surrounding Christmas.

Everything that Paul wrote, he was writing with a backward glance at what took place.  He may have had a chance to talk with some that were alive when Christ was born, he may have talked with some that were within that second tier… those who weren’t witnesses to Jesus’ birth, but those who had talked with Jesus himself or with Mary in regard to the birth.  Whomever he talked to, Paul is looking back, telling the story of Jesus’ birth, and is making it our story.

Why is that so important to grab?

Until we grasp where we were, we’re not going to understand how great the birth of Christ truly was.  Yeah, we celebrate Jesus born in a manger.  Yeah, we give and receive gifts, we sing the familiar songs, we celebrate with family and friends.  But Christ’s coming is so much more than that.

Before Christ came, we were slaves.  We were slaves to sin.  We were slaves in a life that led to death.  We were without hope.  We were, as we saw a couple of weeks ago, condemned.

But Christ’s birth changed all of that.

As that verse tells our story, it says Christ came to redeem us.  Redeem means to buy back, to pay for.  And what Christ did by his coming, meant that he was able to go to the cross in our place, he paid for the sin that we had committed, and that by paying for our sin, the debt that we owed that we could not pay back, was taken care of.

Isn’t that great news!  Isn’t that news that floods your soul!

But there’s more!

And if I told you the more here, you’d miss it on Sunday or you’d be able to sleep through what is shared, and I don’t want that.  So you’re going to have to wait until Sunday to hear what the more is.  And understand this: it’s great news that you don’t want to miss.

I’ll give you a hint… it ties into the latter portion of those verses I shared at the beginning… where it says “Abba! Father!”  And trust me, you won’t want to miss out on it!

Are you ready?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Russ

Don’t forget… Christmas Eve Service on December 24^th at 6:00pm.  Movie “Courageous” on New Year’s Eve, starting at 6:30pm.

Today is December 9, which leaves 16 days until Christmas Day.  That’s hard to believe.  Where did the rest of the year go?  Where has the month of December gone?  Before we know it, 2012 will be here.

As a child, I can remember the last couple of days before Christmas being the longest ones of the year.  There was so much anticipation for Christmas Day to arrive, that it seemed as if those last few days would never end.  And then once Christmas Day came, it went away far too quickly.

As I’ve gotten older, my perspective has changed.  Here it is the 9^th, and because there is so much to do, so much to finish, before I know it Christmas Day will be here.  At times I’m kind of panicking just thinking how quickly Christmas will be here.

 

One thing that I can’t change is the certainty that Christmas Day will be here.  Whether I’m ready or not, it will be here, and I’ll rejoice and be glad for the fulfillment of the promise God made long ago.

 

We have that certainty.  We can look back on the first Christmas and be glad that it took place.  Now I know the birth of Christ most likely didn’t take place in December, but more likely either during the spring (close to Passover) or in the autumn (close to the Jewish festival of the Feast of Tabernacles).  Both of those time frames seem to fit better as they would be ideal times for a Roman census to take place.

 

The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336AD in the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine.  A few years later Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December.

 

The name ‘Christmas’ really comes from the Catholic faith, and comes from the Mass of Christ (or Jesus).  The ‘Christ-Mass’ service was the only one that was allowed to take place after sunset (and before sunrise the next day), so people had it at Midnight!  So we get the name Christ-Mass, shortened to Christmas.

 

Back in Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God promised that He would send someone to bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15).  That promise was repeated and expanded upon to Abraham, when God promised that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3).  From that time forward, the Jewish people waited and watched for the promised Messiah to come.

 

And yes, even though there would be a great number that would walk away from God because He seemed slow in fulfilling His promise, there was always a remnant that waited and watched.  This Sunday we’ll see one such couple… Zechariah and Elizabeth.  They were described as “righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord” (Luke 2:6).

 

Even after all the years of waiting for God to fulfill the promise of sending a Messiah, even though many walked away, this couple remained steadfast in their devotion to God, and they were blessed to be able to play a major role in the fulfillment of the Promise.

 

For us, with their example, it’s a good refresher that with the story of Christmas we have a reminder that our faith and our hope is not in vain.

 

Are you ready?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Russ

Pastor’s Note December 9, 2011

Today is December 9, which leaves 16 days until Christmas Day.  That’s hard to believe.  Where did the rest of the year go?  Where has the month of December gone?  Before we know it, 2012 will be here.

As a child, I can remember the last couple of days before Christmas being the longest ones of the year.  There was so much anticipation for Christmas Day to arrive, that it seemed as if those last few days would never end.  And then once Christmas Day came, it went away far too quickly.

As I’ve gotten older, my perspective has changed.  Here it is the 9^th, and because there is so much to do, so much to finish, before I know it Christmas Day will be here.  At times I’m kind of panicking just thinking how quickly Christmas will be here.

One thing that I can’t change is the certainty that Christmas Day will be here.  Whether I’m ready or not, it will be here, and I’ll rejoice and be glad for the fulfillment of the promise God made long ago.

We have that certainty.  We can look back on the first Christmas and be glad that it took place.  Now I know the birth of Christ most likely didn’t take place in December, but more likely either during the spring (close to Passover) or in the autumn (close to the Jewish festival of the Feast of Tabernacles).  Both of those time frames seem to fit better as they would be ideal times for a Roman census to take place.

The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336AD in the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine.  A few years later Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th December.

The name ‘Christmas’ really comes from the Catholic faith, and comes from the Mass of Christ (or Jesus).  The ‘Christ-Mass’ service was the only one that was allowed to take place after sunset (and before sunrise the next day), so people had it at Midnight!  So we get the name Christ-Mass, shortened to Christmas.

Back in Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God promised that He would send someone to bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15).  That promise was repeated and expanded upon to Abraham, when God promised that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3).  From that time forward, the Jewish people waited and watched for the promised Messiah to come.

And yes, even though there would be a great number that would walk away from God because He seemed slow in fulfilling His promise, there was always a remnant that waited and watched.  This Sunday we’ll see one such couple… Zechariah and Elizabeth.  They were described as “righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord” (Luke 2:6).

Even after all the years of waiting for God to fulfill the promise of sending a Messiah, even though many walked away, this couple remained steadfast in their devotion to God, and they were blessed to be able to play a major role in the fulfillment of the Promise.

For us, with their example, it’s a good refresher that with the story of Christmas we have a reminder that our faith and our hope is not in vain.

Are you ready?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Russ