The Father of Mercies – January 6, 2025
Hey Chapel Family!
As I’m reflecting on the story of Ruth we began yesterday, and watching the snow fall, I am reminded of how of merciful our God really is towards His children. When the Word of the Lord came to the prophet Isaiah, God declared:
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18) What a wonderful thought to dwell upon!
I got to thinking of 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (Again!) where Paul speaks of God as the “Father of mercies and the God of all comfort”.
I began recalling other places where it speaks of God’s mercy…. Paul says in Ephesian 2:4 “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in MERCY, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions”.
Peter says in 1 Peter 1:3 “in His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”.
James says “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (James 5:11)
There are, of course, many other passage that speak of God’s mercy. There are other places that speak of how we are to act mercifully towards others as a reflection of how God has acted toward us. However, the passages I’ve listed give us a breathtaking perspective of God’s mercy, what the prophet Jeremiah calls a “compassion that never fails”.
The Gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh – December 17, 2024
Hello Chapel family!
We’ve been looking at the account of the wise men for this advent season, and I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. It’s been encouraging to think about how God had practical and prophetic purposes for the gifts He led the magi to give to Jesus. It encourages me because we understand God’s heart towards us in that God cares for all of our needs not just spiritual. We understand Jehovah Jireh (the Lord our provider) in a new way!
Specifically, we’ve seen:
The gift of gold – This gift likely provided financially for the family as they were about to embark on a journey to Egypt. We also know that the magi truly considered Jesus to be the one who “was born king of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2). It was a reality at His birth, but it was also foreshadowing what was yet to come. The gift of gold represents Jesus as King and the King who is yet to come (Rev. 19:11-16)
The Gift of Frankincense – This gift also has practical and prophetic implications. Burning incense was a significant part of the worship in the temple/tabernacle. It represented the prayers of God’s people rising to Him. Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus is continually interceding for His people. The gift of frankincense represents Jesus as our Great High Priest who sat down at the right hand of God because the ultimate sacrifice on the Christ ended the need for sacrificing animals. He is the perfect High priest and therefore there will never be another sacrifice for sin.
This Sunday we will be looking at the final gift, the gift of myrrh.
Until then, I am praying with you and for you all!
Christmas Hope – December 6, 2024
The celebration of Christmas is ultimately a celebration of Hope! The first week of advent is remembering and preparing again for the arrival of Hope. We celebrate that God chose to be with Us!
As we read the account of the wise men from Matthew 2:1-12, we are reminded that God entered the human story and as He did, we are never without hope.
The wonderful reality is that the baby born in the manger is the one who goes on to conquer the grave!
And yet, some of us, myself included, can sometimes feel as if the grave, sin and death have the upper hand. The Christmas season can be a time of intensified pain and lonliness. The hole that is present in our hearts all year round becomes magnified and enlarged this time of year. It seems as if might swallow us whole at times.
We come to understand personally, in ways we don’t want, what Jesus meant when he said “in this world you will have trouble”.
Yet, as we follow Jesus, who was fully man and understood the pain and troubles of this world, we learn, as he did, to constantly look to the Father who’s sovereign hand can redeem our pain in ways we could never have imagined.
Our hope ultimately lies, not in whether God redeems our pain or how He does, but that one day there will be NO MORE PAIN (Revelation 21:3-4)! One day we will worship the King of Glory uninhibited by the troubles of this world! That’s a hope that can’t be shaken!
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope”.
The King Worthy Of Our Worship – December 2, 2024
This past Sunday we walked through the account of the wise men from Matthew 2. It is a remarkable story of how they come from afar to fall down and worship at the feet of Jesus, the God child. But not everybody in the story worships Him. In fact, we see two other responses.
Some people respond to Jesus as Herod did. Herod, we read in verse 3, was greatly troubled at this announcement that the Messiah, the one born king of the Jews had come. Herod responds in opposition to King Jesus. This is still how some people react to Him today. I’ve heard people respond to the gospel by essentially saying “don’t talk to me about that nonsense”. They get defensive. Some get agressive. Either way they don’t want to hear about this Jesus and they would rather that He just go away. They even actively speak against Him, as if the act of love demonstrated on the cross, was somehow not for their good, but actually was meant to make life worse for them.
Others respond to Jesus as the religious leaders in the story did: indifference. They are summoned by Herod because there is a report that the Messiah has been born. Herod wants to know what the scriptures say about where he is to be born. The religious leaders cite a prophecy from Micah 5, and tell Herod that the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem. We know from Luke 2 that the shepherds respond quickly to go see what has happened. The wise men observe His star and travel for weeks to come worship the Messiah. Herod responds, albeit in opposition. Yet, here are the religious leaders who perhaps out of all people should be the most responsive, however, there is nothing recorded in scripture. They did nothing. They were completely indifferent to the coming of God’s promised one.
In either response, we see what Paul was referring to in 2 Corinthians 4:4, when he said the “god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the gospel of the glory of Christ”.
We probably know people who respond in opposition, and we probably know others who respond in indifference. No matter how people, whom we love, respond to Jesus this Christmas season, let us be found interceeding for them before the throne of grace. Let us be found with the attitude of Christ who “came not to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).