Download The Advent Journal Here

New City Church

Download The Advent Journal Here

December 1, 2023

Dear Reader,

Thank you for taking the time to walk through this daily devotional. As you read, reflect and journal, our prayer is that these simple thoughts from the scriptures will encourage your heart and stir a deeper sense of devotion and appreciation for the gift of our Savior this season.

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Steve Andres and New City Church

December 1

December 1, 2023

Advent is anticipation and preparation. Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah looked ahead to the coming of Christ and said, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.” As we start this Christmas season, we are inviting God to shine a light on our hearts and lives, to search us and give us clarity and vision for who He is calling us to be and how we should live. We want that light to clarify the way we see ourselves. How can it do that? 1 Peter 2:9 says, “God has called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light.” Our destiny is not darkness, it is light. Someone once said, “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” Just because there is darkness in your past doesn’t mean that you aren’t made for light. Thank God today for sending light into our world at Christmas, for rescuing us from darkness and putting us on a path to light and life! 1 Peter 2:9 “God has called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light.”

December 2

December 2, 2023

Words are a miracle. The act of speaking is incredibly complex. It starts in the speech center of our brains, where a message is sent to our diaphragm telling it to push breath from our lungs, through our throat, making our vocal cords vibrate. Subtle movements of the palate, tongue, and lips shape those vibrations into the sounds we know as words. Those are the mechanics of speech, but words are more than mechanics. Words bring us closer to people. They form bonds and give meaning; they express who we are. Words aren’t just for communication, they are for communion. The Apostle John begins his biography of Jesus saying, “In the beginning, the Word was with God and the Word was God.” God has always been speaking, inviting us to know Him, but at Christmas He spoke with a thundering clarity, His word expressed in flesh and bone, the language we understand best. Are you listening to Him speak today? John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

December 3

December 3, 2023

Movies are best with happy endings. Why would anyone want to sit for two hours to watch a story with a sad ending? If we want something to make us sad, anxious or afraid, we can simply look at the world around us! Real life is filled with sad endings, sorrowful moments and bad guys who win. That’s why we need to look again at the Christmas story. The Apostle John says about the coming of Jesus, “The light shined in the darkness, and the darkness could not overcome it.” Strange how a helpless baby, born into poverty and oppression, sorrow and death, could be the light that overcomes all darkness. But that’s what John is claiming! What if Christmas really is the moment when light triumphed over darkness? What if what God is doing isn’t as fragile as we feel? What if in the end, the coming of Jesus was the once-and-for-all sign that God’s love wins? What a hope! John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”