Little Flatrock Christian Church

Advent is not only about preparing for Christmas but also for Jesus’ return.  According to Scripture, that won’t be the calm, silent scene described in Christmas carols.

In 1928, Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached: “It is very remarkable that we face the thought that God is coming so calmly, whereas previously peoples trembled at the day of God …. We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We … [forget] the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us.”

God is love; we’ll be in good hands at the end of time. But during Advent, also be in awe of God. Embrace a reverent fear of the Lord that reminds you how profound it is that God chooses again and again to draw near and lay claim to you.

This Sunday, we prepared our sanctuary for Advent.  We invite you to do the same for your heart.  Prepare Him room and experience the awe and wonder.  Then join us next week as we continue with the Believe series.

“If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer.  Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!”  Psalm 66:8-20

Asking for forgiveness is one of the hardest things to do, mostly because it requires admission of guilt.  If you have wronged a friend — and whether or not your friend knows you have wronged them — you naturally avoid eye contact or avoid their presence altogether.  You certainly would not be calling on them to do you any favors.

If you knew approaching your friend with an apology would mean reconciliation, you might be more likely to attempt the hard conversation, but most of the time your chances are fifty-fifty at best.

With God, you never need to fear rejection if you approach him with a repentant heart.  He’s your loving heavenly Father who wants nothing more than to be in a relationship with you, to hear your requests, and to grant the desires of your heart.  The chances of reconciliation with God are one hundred percent.  He already knows what you have done.  He even knows your motives, and He loves you anyway.  So you might as well come clean.

–from The 31 Day Believe Devotional by Randy and Rozanne Frazee

“Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.  Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song.”  Psalm 95:1-2

I love to hear my father share memories of his days as a US Air Force staff sergeant in Morocco during the Korean War.  His duty started at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and sixty years later, I made a point of taking my dad back to that base for a visit.

An active lieutenant colonel graciously offered to provide us with access to the base and to give us a personal tour.  We saw restored fighter planes, from WWI to the present.  When we came to the Korean War plane, the lieutenant colonel stopped us, looked my father straight in the eyes, and said these heartfelt words, “Al, as an officer and representative for the United States Air Force, I want to thank you for your dedication and service to our great nation.”  He finished with a strong salute.

Overwhelmed by this display of honor and respect, my dad saluted back, his eyes filled with tears.

Do you think our heavenly Father becomes overwhelmed, His eyes filled with tears of joy, when we salute Him with our heartfelt worship?

I worship God for who He is and what He has done for me.

— from The 31-Day Believe Devotional by Randy & Rozanne Frazee

 

 

 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?”  John 14:1-2

After twenty-two years of living in Texas, we were moving.  Leaving behind our life troubled our hearts.  We purchased a beautiful little bungalow in Chicago with one problem:  there was no room large enough for all of us to hang out.  Determined to prepare the house for our family, Randy headed up to renovate the basement to create our much-desired family room.

As he left, I wanted to go with him, but it was more strategic for me to stay behind and finish handling all the details to ensure a smooth transition.  My husband would be back to take us home, to the place he was preparing for our family.

When Jesus told his disciples he was leaving, they desperately wanted to go too.  But strategically he need to leave them behind to share the gospel with others to build his kingdom.  So he taught them how their hearts could be comforted while he was gone:  by believing his promise to return.

Is your heart troubled by your circumstances?  Comfort yourself with Jesus’ promise to return and to take all of us who believe in him home, to the place he has prepared for us.

–from The 31-Day Believe Devotional by Randy & Rozanne Frazee

“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ”  1 Peter 4:9

Every house hunter or renovator on HGTV at some point during the show exclaims something like, “Now I can see myself entertaining here!” Or “This backyard would be great for having friends over for barbequing,” or “This kitchen will be awesome for hosting!”  Apparently everyone wants to entertain, but they’re just one major move or remodel away from actually pulling it off.

In the Scripture, hospitality appears in the form of a command, not a suggestion. “Do not forget to show hospitality” (Hebrews 13:2).  “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality (Romans 12:13).  Whether we live in an apartment or house, a mansion or cottage, whether it needs to be remodeled or is brand new, our home is a gift from God, and he expects us to share it willingly and cheerfully with others.  Jesus doesn’t want you to wait until your house is perfect before you open it up and share it with others.

from The 31-Day Believe Devotional by Randy & Rozanne Frazee

“Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.  Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”  Psalm 82:3-4

Freddy was a classmate of mine in junior high school.  He had a condition referred to (at the time) as “water on the brain.”  The excess fluid around his skull created an over-sized and awkward head for Freddy.  Junior high school is an awful place to be different.  Immature people create the worst possible names for our apparent weaknesses.  Freddy was called Watermelon Head.

One day between classes in a hallway filled with people, a group of boys started picking on Freddy.  They called him names and shoved him around.  This was the same year I became a Christian.  Something was stirring in me, something that wasn’t there before — or perhaps I should say Someone.

I felt compelled to go and stand between Freddy and the bullies.  But in the end, I did nothing.  Forty years later I still think about this incident.  As a new, immature Christian, I failed Freddy, and he took the abuse with no advocate.  I am so sorry, Freddy.  With God’s forgiveness granted, I wake up each day praying for the courage to “defend,” to “uphold the cause,” and “rescue” the Freddys God puts in my life.

— from the 31-Day Believe Devotional by Randy and Rozanne Frazee

“For God so love the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

Most Americans claim they are Christian.  They aren’t Muslim, Jewish, or Hindu; they were raised in church or attend church; and they try to live by the golden rule.

Nicodemus was no different.  He was one of the spiritual leaders — in our world, he’d be teaching the adult Sunday school class and serving on the elder board.  Nicodemus had memorized all the laws and tried to live out each one.  Secretly approaching Jesus, he was sure Jesus would assure him he had done everything needed to gain a relationship with God.  After all, he had been working for this his whole life.  And that is when Jesus said the words from the most famous verse in the Bible.  They were spoken not to a person outside the church, but to one of its leaders.

Many people attempt to live good lives, working hard to make sure they secure an eternal relationship with their Creator.  Like Nicodemus, however, they have missed the one thing they need to gain access to a true relationship with God.

God wants nothing more that to be in relationship with you, but unless you accept the free gift of his Son, you cannot enter into that relationship.

from the 31-Day Believe Devotional by Randy & Rozanne Frazee

“Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is Christ.”  Ephesians 4:15

What mother tells her child to chew up a pill that is meant to be swallowed?  Most likely the child would promptly spit out the pill because of its bitter taste.  A loving mother smashes the pill and smothers it in applesauce so the pill goes down easier.  Wisdom tells her that if her child spits it out, the healing benefit will be lost.

God calls us to challenge each other to spiritual growth, but if the challenge comes without love, it’s the same as chewing a pill that’s meant to be swallowed.  As a wise believer, you should surround yourself with a few trusted friends who, beyond the shadow of a doubt, love you while your spiritual temperature is normal.  Whenever you begin to experience a rise in your spiritual temperature, you can give them permission to challenge you in love.

We all falter from time to time.  By preemptively choosing loving believers to monitor your spiritual temperature, you ensure that the truth you have to swallow will be given to you in love.

from the 31-Day Believe Devotional  by Randy & Rozanne Frazee

“To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”  John 1:12

The words “It’s a boy!” at the birth of our second child brought Rozanne and me tremendous joy.  We already had a girl; now we had a boy.  Life was perfect — until we noticed that our baby boy was missing his left hand and forearm.  Immediately questions flashed through our minds.  Sports?  How would the kindergarteners treat him? Where would his wedding ring go? Never mind marriage; what girl would love him with so many men out there with two hands?  And the most alarming question:  Would we love him?

Nurses swaddled our little David and laid him in our arms.  And in the moment our greatest fear evaporated.  We loved him; there was nothing he had to do to earn our love.  He was our son.

Our actions sometimes make us feel that God could never love us, as if there were anything we could do to earn God’s love.  God loves us not because of anything we have done, but because of what he did.  He loves us because of who we are, his children.

Today David is a successful attorney and has a beautiful wife who loves him dearly.  He played sports better than most kids with two hands!  While that brings us great joy, it isn’t why we love him.  We love him because he’s our son.

God feels the same about you.

–from the 31-Day Believe Devotional by Randy and Rozanne Frazee

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  2 Timothy 3:16-17

Remember the first time you walked outside in the winter as a child and you saw your breath?  Perhaps you leaned too close to a window and saw moisture appear as you exhaled.  The oxygen we breathe in becomes carbon dioxide in our lungs.  These gases are both invisible, but as we exhale, the carbon dioxide mixes with water vapor, and because cold air has less vapor than the warm air from our lungs, it produces fog.

But what happens when God exhales?  The word for “God-breathed” in 2 Timothy is theophneustos, and it gives us a clue.  Theo means “God”; pneustos means “spirit” or “breath.” The first time we see God exhaling is in Genesis when he is breathing life into the nostrils of Adam.  In 2 Timothy we again see him breathing out, but instead of fog, God’s Spirit or breath becomes words on the tips of men’s pens.  Those words bring life to all who study them.

Next time you see your breath on a cold day, remember God exhaled and created life-sustaining words to live by.  We call it the Bible.

— from the 31-Day Believe Devotional by Randy & Rozanne Frazee