Have you ever had some news that was so good that you couldn’t help but tell everyone you saw? You were so overjoyed you were basically singing the news to everyone! I remember this feeling when we were expecting our first child. I couldn’t help from sharing with friends, neighbors, even the cashier at the grocery. When Jesus was born, a multitude of angels appeared to the shepherds announcing Jesus’ birth and singing praises to God! May we remember all year long just how special that news is, and every day continue to sing His praises and give glory to God! PASSAGE: Luke 2:14 - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" PAUSE: Celebrating Jesus as the Savior of the world is not just for Christmas, God desires that we worship Him 24/7. As you prepare your hearts for the new year and our weekend services, set aside a few moments and glorify God! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, be glorified in my life and my church. Create in me a clean heart that is hungry and thirsty to worship and to glorify You!
When I think of a king, I typically think of power and prestige—royalty of a higher class than the people. But Jesus came in the most unlikely way. He humbled himself leaving the glory of Heaven to become a weak and fragile baby. He was not born in a royal castle. Not even in a house. This king was born in a stable. What an incredible show of love for the king of kings to enter this world in such a way to relate to us and to save us! PASSAGE: Luke 1:32-33 - "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.” PAUSE: When Mary received news about baby Jesus, she was told that He would not only be a king but that He would be the king of kings. Jesus is more than a Savior; Jesus is also a king and is coming back soon to establish His kingdom that will reign forever and ever. Let us seek first His kingdom today. PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Your kingdom come, and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Today, I come seeking Your will be done in my life!
Life in this fallen world is brutally hard. And trying to navigate it without the God of love so often feels hopeless and joyless. The best we can shoot for without God are a few moments of circumstantial happiness in between the chaos of various trials. Without God the old bumper sticker is true: “Life stinks and then you die!” But life with God in this fallen world changes everything! It does not mean that life gets easier or that trials still don’t come. But the God of love is there with you overseeing the events of your life, transforming you to be more like Jesus in the way you live and love others. And in that reality we can experience the joy of the Lord no matter what circumstances or trials we are going through. PASSAGE: Matthew 2:10 - "When they saw the star, they were overjoyed." PAUSE: The wise men rejoiced exceedingly with great joy! Is there a greater joy than knowing Jesus? As you pause in the middle of another week, meditate on what brings you great joy! Hopefully, it is Jesus, if not, let us consider finding our hope and joy in Christ Jesus and not in this world. PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I want the joy of the wise men. I confess that too many times I look to other places for joy, today, I seek You and You only.
Immanuel = “God with us!” Not God against us, which is what many of perceive God to be. God as the angry judge. Not God away from us. God as far off and unknowable. Not God without us. God as too holy to be near sinful humans. But God with us! Meaning Jesus left heaven and came to earth and became fully human and died in our place in order to be with us! And in order that we could be with Him! Friend, this Christmas remember that God is WITH you and FOR you and IN you! That His heart toward you is love. And then draw near to Him and trust Him and follow Him with all your heart! PASSAGE: Matthew 1:23 - "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.” (From Isaiah 7:14) PAUSE: Christmas reminds us that God desires to dwell with us! Jesus not only saves us from our sins, but he also comes alongside us. Jesus walked among His people, today the Holy Spirit indwells us as believers. May we never forget that God loves us so much, that He desires to be with us 24/7 as His children. PRAYER: Father, remind me of your presence today. Forgive me for the times that I forget that You are right here with me. I choose to dwell with You today.
Focusing on Christmas without taking into account the rest of the Jesus story is like reading the first few pages of a really good book but never taking the time to finish it, to see how it ends! The angel’s words to Mary before Jesus’ birth reveals the whole purpose for His coming! Namely, “to save his people from their sins!” The bottom line is that we cannot separate the cradle from the cross! All the problems in this world, and in your life, can be traced back to sin. Jesus entered this world to forgive our sins, give us victory over our sins, and give us an eternal home free from sin. That’s the meaning of Christmas! PASSAGE: Matthew 1:21 - "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." PAUSE: Today we rejoice in a Savior who saves us from our sins. Our Heavenly Father sent us His only Son to deliver us from our sins. Jesus (Joshua – Hebrew) means “Yahweh (the Lord) saves.” Take an extra pause this Christmas morning to worship Jesus as the long-awaited Savior, who saves us from all our sins! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus. I embrace Jesus as my Savior. I confess my sins and my unworthiness and rejoice in the forgiveness of sins.
Join us each day for a devotional in the Gospel series. Sign up for “Devotional Reminders” in The Chapel app’s notification settings. December 25 - Matthew 1:21 December 26 - Matthew 1:23 December 27 - Matthew 2:10 December 28 - Luke 1:32-33 December 29 - Luke 2:14
The world sees the meaning of Christmas time as an opportunity to give and receive gifts. I would actually agree, but with a major point of clarification—the true meaning of Christmas is celebrating the gift given by God for us to receive. Jesus’ perfect, self-sacrificial love for us was displayed by His willingness to temporarily give up the riches of Heaven to live as a human. Let this Christmas season remind us to give sacrificially as He gave Himself for us. PASSAGE: 1 John 3:16-17 - "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" PAUSE: The Gospel is not just mere words. The Gospel is love in action. God sent Jesus into the world to meet our need for salvation. This Christmas, we must pause and look at the world around us. Who is in need? Ask God to show you ways to love others practically by meeting the needs of those near you. Christmas is not about us; Christmas is about loving those around us. PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I confess that sometimes I focus on myself more than others. Open my eyes to see all the needs around me and how I can practically love my friends, family, and neighbors. Let your light shine in me!
We have probably all heard the phrase "actions speak louder than words". If somebody says something, but their actions show the opposite, it's clear what their true intentions are. Their behavior shows what's really on the inside. We read about this in 1 John where he is explaining the "new" commandment that's not really new. This might sound like a contradiction, but he is referring to Jesus' words in John 13:34 to "love one just as I have loved you". The new command is to follow in Christ's footsteps of love for one another, but it is an old command because this has been the heart of the law the entire time. When we demonstrate our love by our actions, that is the evidence within us that we are living in the light. Friends, let that light shine out into the world! PASSAGE: 1 John 2:9-10 - "Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling." PAUSE: The Apostle John wanted us to know the heart of the Gospel. We are to love one another just as Christ loved us. When we are lukewarm and unloving towards others, we deceive ourselves and fail to walk in the light. PRAYER: Father, grant me the ability to love others well. This Christmas, help me love my family, friends, and neighbors the way you love them.
Maybe it’s time to do a brutally honest personal assessment. We all tend to get sloppy and lazy with the things we let into our lives. Sometimes we walk in darkness and we’re still calling it light or were just not giving it any thought at all. So, take some time to lay your life wide open before God. List the things that you know for sure are “light” aspects of your life. But be careful here because sometimes we are doing activities that appear to be light, but because of wrong motives it’s gone over to the dark side. And then ask God to show you aspects of your life that are darkness. From entertainment choices to attitudes to sin struggles. And then Repent! Seriously! Ask God for the courage to turn around, and then do it! And don’t just stop doing the dark thing, replace it with light! Jesus will lead you in this journey, shining His light each step of the way! PASSAGE: 1 John 1:5 - "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." PAUSE: God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. The key to living the Christian life is knowing God is light. As Christians, if we say we follow Christ yet continue to live a life that is full of darkness, we deceive ourselves. Living the Gospel requires that we embrace who God is and walk in the light. PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I desire to walk in the light just as you are in the light. Protect me from the lies and deceptions that keep me from the light.
Are you actually living by the truth? For the longest time I lived a fairly unexamined life and the enemy was able to dupe me into embracing many things as true that were actually lies. I had messages playing on repeat in my head that were based on lies I had believed from my childhood that were impacting my sense of myself, my reaction to difficulties, and my daily choices. The devil has a way of making his lies feel so true. This is why we have to go through a spiritual process of replacing Satan’s lies with God’s truth! Jesus is the Truth! Scripture is the Truth! Often, we must prayerfully think our way through this. We must preach to ourselves about what is false and what is true, especially when what is false feels so true! And then we must step into that truth from God and live it out and put faith into action! And when we do this, Jesus will be right there shining His light on the path. PASSAGE: John 3:21 - "But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” PAUSE: Jesus came to expose the deeds of darkness. Jesus loves us and was sent to set us free from darkness. When we embrace Jesus as the Light of the World, we walk in truth and show the world that we are followers of Christ. PRAYER: Father, I thank you for the opportunity to be true to who you created me to be. Today, I commit myself to avoid darkness and to walk with Jesus.
Biblically speaking, darkness is a path or life filled with sin, selfishness, shallowness, isolation (add all your other personal sin struggles here) that leads to frustration, depression, anger, and great distance from God. And apart from Christ it is the only option available to the fallen human race. But Jesus is light and shines the light and empowers the light unto a life or path that is filled with love, purity, joy, faith, purpose, and intimacy with God! One great tragedy is when Christians get distracted or choose disobedience and end up on the dark path. Friend, it is as we daily choose to follow Jesus, step by step, day by day, circumstance by circumstance, that He leads us down the path filled with light. Are you renewing your commitment to follow Jesus regularly, or are you trying to live today off the faith of sometime in the distant past? PASSAGE: John 8:12 - "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” PAUSE: The Gospel reminds us that we all must decide which path we are going to pursue. We will either seek the light or the darkness. The Good News is that Jesus is the Light of the World, showing us the way we should go. PRAYER: Heavenly Father, without Jesus we all would be walking in darkness. Help me to walk in the light 24/7. I love you, and I am thankful for Jesus.
Join us each day for a devotional in the Gospel series. Sign up for “Devotional Reminders” in The Chapel app’s notification settings. December 18 - John 8:12 December 19 - John 3:21 December 20 - 1 John 1:5 December 21 - 1 John 2:9-10 December 22 - 1 John 3:16-17
Do you remember working at your first real job and receiving your first paycheck? It's an incredible feeling to earn the wages that you've just worked so hard for. I remember the feeling of accomplishment and joy from a job well done. But when we examine our lives through this "wages" metaphor, what payment do we deserve? The apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans tells us exactly what we have earned--the payment we should receive for the sin in our life is death. That sounds like really bad news for us, but it doesn't have to be. Instead of receiving the paycheck you deserve (death), God has instead offered us the paycheck that someone else earned. Christ lived a perfect life that we couldn't live, and He willingly died the death that we should have died. He wrote His name on our work, and wrote our name on His work. That is an incredible gift! PASSAGE: Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." PAUSE: Good news is always associated with bad news. The bad news is that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and deserve death for our sins. The good news is that eternal life in Christ Jesus is absolutely free! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I confess that I have sinned against you, and I don’t deserve your mercy or grace. I accept your free gift of salvation and rejoice!
If you think eternity starts AFTER the day you die, you're missing out on a major part of God's plan for His kingdom. The joy of eternal life is not just a future event! Eternal life begins the moment we trust in Christ as our savior. From this day forward, you can have the confident assurance that your eternity is secured. With that assurance should come a relief that there is nothing you need to do to earn eternal life, but it should spark a motivation to spread that good news. Just as John shared the message of God's will for all, we should joyfully share the message of the Father's invitation--for all to believe in His son and receive eternal life! Start living for eternity today, and invite as many people to join as you can! PASSAGE: John 6:40 - "For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” PAUSE: The Apostle John, who walked with Christ and lived with Christ, reveals to us the will of the Father. The will of the Father is to believe in Christ Jesus. He also wanted us to know that we are promised eternal life now and in the future. If you still have not placed your faith in Christ, let today be the day. PRAYER: Father, I embrace your will for my life. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I believe that I will be raised to life on the last day!
This verse literally caused a paradigm shift in my life when I read it as a young Christian! I had wrongly understood “eternal life” to only be an unending time span that would begin after I died and went to heaven. And it is that, but so, so, so much more! Here at the beginning of Jesus “high-priestly prayer” for the church, He gives the true definition of eternal life! Eternal life = Knowing God & Knowing Jesus! And the word “know” in this verse does not mean to know information about God & Jesus. This is a term of intimate, personal knowing! So, it’s not like how I know Abraham Lincoln (information about a historic figure). It’s more like how I know my wife! It’s a love relationship where we actually spend time together and share life together. This is what God wants with you! This is what Jesus came to give us! PASSAGE: John 17:3 - "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." PAUSE: Most Christians associate eternal life with something temporal, but Christ associates eternal life with something relational. To know Christ personally and relationally is to know and experience life. Yes, we will live for eternity with Christ Jesus, but we can also experience eternal life today! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus. I want to know Christ and the eternal life that he has freely given me. Strengthen my relationship with you.
