6 Ideas for Celebrating Advent as a Family

Parents plan for it. Churches celebrate it. Stores open their doors early for it. Children long all year for it for it.

December 25, the most anticipated day of the year.

Historically, believers in God are marked with expectation and anticipation.

• Abraham and Sarah waited for God to fulfill His promise to give them a son.
• David longed for a temple for Jehovah in Jerusalem.
• The magi followed a star, expecting the celestial sign to take them to the King of the Jews.

Since the ascension of Jesus Christ, believers have awaited His return. The Greek word parousia means "coming" or "arrival." The New Testament uses the word 17 times to describe the second coming of Christ.

Read my entire article,  6 Ideas for Celebrating Advent as a Family, at Lifeway's website.

Christmas Memory - 2008

Surprised by God, Part One

Life contains many surprises.  Some of them excite us, like falling in love, receiving a refund check from your insurance company, or realizing that there actually is one more Snickers bar in the cabinet.

Some surprises, however, trouble us.  Sudden changes in employment, money, and health can leave us staggering and limping.

Every serious believer wants to walk in the will of God.  We pray for His will, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.  Preachers share sermons on the subject.  My shelf includes at least ten titles dedicated to the idea.  The apostle Paul challenged the Ephesians, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is (Eph. 5:17).

How many times in life I have wished that the Lord would spell out clearly the answers to questions, opportunities, and challenges.  As one senior in college said while trying to understand what God wanted him to do after graduation, “If God would just send a letter to my mailbox and tell me what to do, I would obey Him.”

Paul’s instruction in Ephesians, however, implies that walking in God’s plans and purposes for our lives is not a simple matter.  We don’t receive a morning email from God with instructions like, Make the car payment today, spend fifteen extra minutes with your son tonight because he is struggling with something, and don’t go to the post office like you planned because, if you do, you will catch a stomach virus.

Instead, following God includes a process of learning to understand what the Lord’s will is.  And that process includes unexpected twists, turns, and cliff-hangers.

Christmas Surprises

One of the Lord’s favorite methods of guiding and redirecting His people is the tool of surprise.  Nowhere in Scripture do we see this any clearer than in the Christmas texts. 

Matthew records the account of Gabriel announcing to Joseph the coming of Jesus Christ.  Talk about surprises.  Here is an average Joe – or Joseph – in Nazareth.  He is a good, noble, godly man who established a trade and probably just finished a modest house for his wife.  He has dutifully planned for their marriage.  And then the worst news arrives.  She is 
pregnant.But after he had considered this . . .  

Did you catch that?  God's direction comes after Joseph has considered his plans. 

“Well, the Lord better be with us if this is all true,” Joseph may have pondered. And at times He intervenes after we have considered these things.

The text implies that he did not believe Mary.  So what is he to do?

Joseph did what any godly man does.  He prayed.  He meditated on the Scriptures.  He probably sought wise counsel.  He thought, planned, and reviewed his options, trying to see this from every possible angle.  

After some time, with all of his best praying, thinking, and planning, he chose a godly, noble route.  Instead of having her stoned publicly, which was his right by law, he wanted to still honor her.  Respectable Joe would send her away quietly to have the baby and go on with her life.  And he would try and move forward with his.

But then an angel shows up and messes with his plan.  

The Bible uses a powerful phrase to transition from Joseph’s plans to the Lord’s:

The angel announces,  What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. . . .  They will call him Immanuel – which means “God with us.” 

SURPRISE!  Redirection.  Change your plans.  You have not thought of this angle.

After he had considered this.  After he had prayed.  After he sought counsel.  After he read the Scriptures.  After he came up with a good, noble, godly plan.  After these things, the Lord redirected his life.

Amazingly, the Bible says that when Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded.

No fighting.  No immediate questioning.  No whining.  Just obedience.

The servant of God who will be used for His maximum glory must stay in the Potter’s hands, moldable like that soft clay.  At times, the Potter chooses to make the dough into something new.  Hard clay can’t be molded and changed.  We must bend and give where He presses and pushes.

The One who numbers the sands, knows when every wild goat gives birth, and sees every sparrow fall, knows best.  

This article will be continued with Surprised by God Part Two.  


Pictures used by permission from Pixabay.

One of Dolly's Best Gifts to the World

Only Dolly can buy NBC primetime, fill it with the the faith, love, and hope of Jesus Christ, and attract more than 13 million viewers. The most-watched TV movie in three years. 

Our family watched it tonight on Hulu. Watch it if you haven't!

Check out Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors here.

7 Ways for Dads to Maximize the Holidays

The last two months of the year offer two fantastic holy days to celebrate - Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Let's plan special ways to influence our families spiritually during the upcoming season.

 

The Old Schoolhouse magazine published my article 7 Ways for Dads to Teach Spiritual Lessons During the Holidays in the November-December 2014 digital edition of their magazine.  Discover specific ways to lead your family . . .

7 Ways for Dads to Teach Spiritual Lessons During the Holidays

Plan A and Plan B

Yesterday I preached on The Surprises of God from various Christmas texts.   Here is a word of wisdom from Charles Swindoll in one of the most meaningful books that ever came across my eyes, The Mystery of God's Will:

When you get in a situation that you didn’t expect, you have to adapt; you are forced to adjust.  God hasn’t made a mistake.  You haven’t made a mistake.  You’re just going through the process of internal development that is all part of God’s arrangement of events, painful though they may be.

 

We expected Plan A; it seemed so clear.  Then, out of the blue comes a surprise, and we’re left with another whole series of plans.  Plan B kicks in as we flex to the Father’s surprising will.  

God may be preparing you for a great surprise in order to find you faithful.  Rather than running from Him, let me suggest the opposite: Run toward Him.  And rather than looking for someone to blame for the pain that you are enduring or the change on the horizon, look heavenward and realize that this arrangement is sovereignly put together for your good and for His glory.

            
           It’s a wonderful thing when we learn to turn His  

           surprises into opportunities to  surrender whatever we’ve been clinging to these    
           many years.  But it is never easy.  

Advent Rediscovered by Southern Baptists

A friend surprised me tonight by emailing me a link to the following Baptist Press article and asking if I knew I was quoted in the article on Advent.  I did not know, but it is a good article about how Southern Baptists are rediscovering the beauty of the Advent season.

"Late preaching professor Calvin Miller once quipped to Christianity Today that many Southern Baptist churches 'probably could hardly spell Advent' in the early 1990s.

Not so anymore.

LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention has published Advent devotional books and includes tips for observing Advent in at least two holiday magazines this year. North Carolina's Biblical Recorder newsjournal commends Advent to its readers, offering them a list of Advent resources. And Southern Baptist congregations across America light Advent candles weekly -- many of them purchased from LifeWay."

Read the entire article by David Roach here.

My Sweetie!

 THIS AWESOME GIRL TURNED THIRTEEN YESTERDAY!

my how time moves

What Some Jews Say About "Merry Christmas"

Ben Stein, hilarious comedian and deep thinker, shares the following about the Christmas holidays . . .

"I am a Jew and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish, and it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautifully lit-up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees.

I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are — Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they're slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. I shows that we're all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year.

It doesn't bother me one bit that there's a manger scene on display at a key intersection at my beach house in Malibu.

 If people want a creche, fine. The menorah a few hundred yards away is fine, too. I do not like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way. Where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and aren't allowed to worship God as we understand him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we used to know went to."

Burt Prelutsky, a Jewish columnist for a number of national publications, shares:

I never thought I’d live to see the day that Christmas would become a dirty word. . . . How is it, one well might ask, that in a Christian nation this is happening? . . . Speaking as a member of a minority group – and one of the smaller ones at that – I say it behooves those of us who don’t accept Jesus Christ as our savior to show some gratitude to those who do, and to start respecting the values and traditions of the overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens, just as we keep insisting that they respect ours. Merry Christmas, my friends!

Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Daniel Lapin said the following . . .

Secular fundamentalism has successfully injected into American culture the notion that the word “Christmas” is deeply offensive. . . . Anti-Christianism is unhealthy for all Americans; but I warn my brethren that it will prove particularly destructive for Jews. . . . Let us all go out of our way to wish our many wonderful Christian friends – a very merry Christmas. Just remember, America’s Bible belt is our safety belt.

Simple Ways to Remember Christ this December

Everybody is rushing this time of year.  Last Friday, we had an outpatient surgery, a basketball game, a piano recital, and a choir rehearsal all in one day.  Whew! 

We all need simple ways to help us reflect on Jesus during the December days.  As we go about the weeks before Christmas, let's take time to worship Christ in our spirits - and take opportunities to share Him with others.

 

Some simple things that help me experience Jesus in the midst of a busy December . . .
 

1.  Make sure and start every day with the Lord - with some prayer and Bible meditation.  I often remember Johnny Hunt's words, "If you give your time to the Redeemer, He will redeem your time."
 

2.  I love Christmas music, as does my family.  However, in the midst of the "fun" holiday music, I keep a CD or two in my car or computer of Christmas music that says a lot about the Lord.  For my personal tastes and wiring, no Christmas music helps me worship Jesus any more than the classical kind.  I keep CD's handy of The Robert Shaw Chorale and the St. Olaf Choir.  They bless me greatly  as they sing classic Christmas carols about the Lord - His redemption, incarnation, birth, holiness, etc.  My tastes may not be yours - but find something that helps your spirit worship Jesus - even in the midst of holiday rush.  Today I was listening to BEAUTIFUL STAR by The Centurymen.

 

3.  I keep some easy reading handy - on my desk, in my bathroom, in my backpack, in our den.  By easy reading I mean Christian writing that is not too elaborate.  I have a few simple books by Max Lucado, Jack Hayford, and others that contain simple meditations that can be read in 2-5 minutes.  I read one this morning over breakfast on Jesus being the Bread of Life, and my mind and spirit have meditated on it all morning as I have been doing other things.  One of my favorites is Come . . . and Behold Him! by Pastor Jack Hayford.

 

4.  It always helps me in December, after everyone has gone to bed, to sit down by the lit tree for just a few minutes and "be still and know that [He] is God."  A few quiet moments to reflect, give Him thanks, and perhaps read a few Scriptures.

 

Perhaps these simple things may help you, in the midst of the holiday rush, to connect with Christ.  It is as we connect with Him that we have something to share with others.