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Friday, December 16, 2016

Always Coming of Christ

“The Christmas story… begins with
the always coming of Christ.”
Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift

“Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations! Son of God and Son of Man!
             Glory and honor, praise, adoration, now and forever more be thine.”


In this season of welcoming Christ, we discover more than angels’ revelations or shepherds’ testimonies or magi’s offerings. The coming of Christ begins as a promise and ends with a promise. God promises a Messiah, prophets foretell of the coming of Christ, angels announce the birth of Christ into the world, and Christ promises His coming again. From before time begins and until time ends, the always coming of Christ seeks all peoples with indescribable love!

The coming of Christ marks a permanent place in history’s timeline, marks the beginning of a spiritual transformation for humanity. He comes bringing salvation to all – for kings and outcasts, for rich and poor; Christ‘s love has no preferences for race or gender, for social status or cultural origin. He is not defined by person or place. On that mysteriously, miraculous night, the coming of Christ begins to change the people, one simple shepherd at a time. Good News of great joy for all people comes as a gift of Perfect Love.

This Christmas ~ listen for the peace of Christ in quiet whispers and simple laughter, find His joy in a friend’s embrace, celebrate the love of Christ with sacred songs, and experience everlasting hope in the always coming of Christ. In the New Year, may we live the Christmas story with greater love for others. ~dho

Celebrate the Season of Giving... 
"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15
As Christ is reborn in you and in me, let us ask ourselves who else needs this Grace? Will you share the Gospel message of Jesus with others here or throughout the world? What can you give to honor the Prince of Peace? 

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Holy Mystery

You’ll never understand the mystery at work in all that God does! 

Many times the mystery of God seems to shout to us! The unexpected, unpredicted, and unwarranted experiences of life appear out of nowhere, and we are afraid. Events often baffle theologians and scientists alike. These unforeseen circumstances of living in a fallen world, these very things God allows into our lives can be used to accomplish God’s Divine purposes. We search for reasons and answers; we demand resolution. Still, these big and small mysteries remain. The one certain truth that will always prevail: God is in control, not chance!

God’s holy mystery permeates the Christ story we celebrate every Christmas. Full of prophecy and promise, there are those who encounter the unexpected. “Do not be afraid,” the angel said to Mary, then in a dream to Joseph, and later to the shepherds. As they embrace the unimaginable, each one becomes a part of God’s Divine Plan; each life is transformed by God’s Perfect Love ~ Jesus!

What conquers fear? “Perfect Love casts out fear.” With Perfect Love and our obedience to live by faith while trusting the Presence of God, our lives can be transformed, each of us entering a part of God’s everlasting story. Oscar Romero, Salvadoran archbishop and martyr, writes that God loves us with gifts we thought we didn’t need, which transform us into people we don’t necessarily want to be. How often our fear and rebellion hold us captive! This Christmas season, embrace the unexpected and be transformed by Perfect Love. You’ll never understand the mystery in all that God does!   ~dho

Celebrate the Season of Giving... 
"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15
As Christ is reborn in you and in me, let us ask ourselves who else needs this Grace? Will you share the Gospel message of Jesus with others here or throughout the world? What can you give to honor the Prince of Peace? 

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

God With Us

“…and they call his name
Immanuel,” which means 
GOD WITH US!  Matthew 1:23

Frederick Buechner, American writer and theologian writes, “…Bethlehem is not the end of our journey but only the beginning…” The Season of Light captures our attention with its hurried and increased activities. Choirs and candles, decorations and details capture us. Words and wonder fill us to nearly overflowing. The Virgin Mary with Joseph traveling to Bethlehem, angels singing to shepherds, a star and Magi, all coming to celebrate this newborn baby called Immanuel. Advent candles retell the familiar story with hope and peace and joy and love. Buechner continues, “The birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it.


Christmas reminds us of new beginnings. We sing Christ the Savior is born but must remember that Christ is also the Redeemer, bringing salvation to a dying world, establishing a new relationship with us. Immanuel, GOD WITH US, is still with us and holds us with grace and goodness. Jesus came that we might be His Light to others, to help the lost and have compassion on the broken, to feed the hungry and hold the hurting, to tell the Good News of His Grace, to forgive, to listen, to love. We must continue to live a new way after the Christmas celebrations end and the decorations are put away, long after we forget about sheep and shepherds. As we find our old routines, let the greatest Christmas Gift, Jesus, renew our journeys. Let’s find the new beginnings and new ways of living for Christ! ~ dho


Celebrate the Season of Giving... 
"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15
As Christ is reborn in you and in me, let us ask ourselves who else needs this Grace? Will you share the Gospel message of Jesus with others here or throughout the world? What can you give to honor the Prince of Peace? 

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

My Heart, Your Bethlehem


Just as our Lord came into human history from the outside, so He must come into us from the outside. Have we allowed our personal human lives to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God?   Oswald Chambers
In reading the Scriptures each Christmas, we hear the same words retell the same story while our minds wander back in time trying to imagine these familiar scenes. From Nazareth to Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary journey to complete the first census, recording the birth of Jesus. Angels and shepherds converse in fields about a Savior born, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this event which the Lord has made known to us.” A star leads the magi to Bethlehem as they offer gifts to the Prince of Peace. The Messiah enters into human history in Bethlehem. 
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. Colossians 3:16 
Over 2,000 years later, people are still looking for Jesus, weeping with loss, begging for more or less, shouting in pain, searching, hoping, desperate, lonely. And when we find Jesus, celebrations fill the night skies like angels singing “Glory to God,” expectations dance with faith like shepherds repeating the angles’ story, wonder becomes wisdom like magi seeking a king. When we allow Jesus to be born in us, Perfect Love embraces our brokenness and failures, our doubts and anxieties. When our lives become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God, His Grace surrounds our incompleteness and transforms our journey. “Be born in me, be born in me; make my heart your Bethlehem, be born in me.-dho

Celebrate the Season of Giving... 
"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15
As Christ is reborn in you and in me, let us ask ourselves who else needs this Grace? Will you share the Gospel message of Jesus with others here and throughout the world? What can you give to honor the Prince of Peace? 

Sunday, December 11, 2016

3rd Sunday in Advent 2016 - Real JOY!

With joy you will draw water from wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the peoples, proclaim that His name is exalted. Sing praises to the LORD, for He has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."
Isaiah 12:3-5 ESV

According to Jewish tradition during the Feast of Tabernacles, in celebration of joy and thanksgiving for God's provision while in the wilderness, a golden pitcher was filled with water from the pool of Siloam and along with wine was poured over the sacrifice on the altar. The act of pouring out the water was a symbol of repentance. Another act involved lighted torches which the Hebrew people carried around the temple. The purpose of this was to symbolize that "the Messiah would be a light to the Gentiles." [Mary Fairchild, Feast of Tabernacles]

In the New Testament, reading in John 7:37-38, "On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'" At this Feast of Tabernacles Jesus describes himself as Living Water, poured out for us. The next day, "while the torches were still burning" [Fairchild], Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." [John 8:12] 

"The inevitable result of genuine salvation is joy! The joy found in Christ is like an inexhaustible well, satisfying the most desperate thirst." [Blackaby Study Bible Notes] As you journey through this Christmas season, are you finding Real JOY? If not, perhaps you are looking in the wrong places. You don't have to wander alone in the dry, dark places. The Holy One is here! Christ is Real JOY! ~dho

Sunday, December 04, 2016

2nd Sunday in Advent 2016 - Real PEACE!

At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:
'Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please Him.' Luke 2:13-14 MSG




What exactly is peace and what is the path to peace? We know that God is the Source of all true peace; Christ is the Good News of peace sent to us from God. On the night Jesus is born in Bethlehem, peace is the message of the angels.

Peace in the Hebrew [shalom] and Greek [eirene] teaches "absence of disturbance" and is the primary blessing of God's people. Scofield offers four references to peace: Peace with God, Peace from God, Peace of God, and Peace on earth. Deep inside, each us desires the assurance of peace. Only God can provide complete peace. Do you have peace? Are you seeking God for Real PEACE? Let the Peace of Christ be born in you today! ~ dho

Sunday, November 27, 2016

1st Sunday in Advent 2016 ~ Real HOPE!


By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us - set us right with Him, make us fit for Him - we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that He has already thrown open His door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand - out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.  
Romans 5:1-2 The Message 

Our HOPE comes through Christ! This season gives us opportunities to celebrate Christ's coming to earth - coming into our world; and at the same time, as our hearts remember God's extravagant gift of Love, we find ourselves humbled by the truth that Christ is coming again! Christ is real HOPE for all times, past ~ present ~ and future.

There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary - we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit. 
Romans 5:3-4 The Message

Even when times are difficult, Christ remains our HOPE! In all times, we are to remain "alert for whatever God will do next." The Scriptures say we should persist "in alert expectancy" of what God will do next. So often we create anxiety wondering if and when and how! Rest in the HOPE of Christ. Romans 5:6 takes away the worry: Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't and doesn't wait for us to get ready." Let Christ be your HOPE! Share this lesson of praise and passionate patience with someone else! Share the HOPE of Christ this season! ~ dho

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Give Thanks!


Give thanks to the LORD, because He is good. His faithful love endures forever. 
 Psalm 136:1


As we celebrate Thanksgiving, let's remember God's goodness. The beauty of creation and the certainty of God calls us to our knees. The Bread of Life sustains us now and prepares us for the wedding supper of the Lamb. Redeemed by grace, our hearts explode with hallelujahs! Infinite love never ends. ~ dho

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Light in the Darkness





Whatever keeps me from my Bible is my enemy, however harmless it may appear to me. A.W. Tozer

The secular response to Christ - if there is any acknowledgement - is that Christ was a great teacher and a good person. The world says there are no absolute truths, that truth is what you believe to be true. The Holy Scriptures, the foundation of the Christian faith, tells a different story. Christ is the Living Son of God, the willing and sinless sacrifice offered for all the iniquities of humanity. He has always been and will always be. Jesus came in human form to earth to fulfill God's Plan of salvation for mankind. There ARE truths that must be part of our faith statement as Christians. Without these absolute truths, we claim a belief in nothing more than good intentions.

Read 1 John 2:18-29

So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will continue to live in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life He promised us. . . you have received the Holy Spirit and He lives within you. . . For the Spirit teaches you all things, and what He teaches is true. 1 John 2:24,27 NLT

Through careful and continued study of the Scriptures, these truths become more clear. God reveals Himself to us today through the Living Word. The Scriptures are both ancient and living words, telling us the stories of old and using these lessons for today. Our struggles in the world are no different than centuries ago. There was unbelief then and unbelief today. Then - time after time, faith required a bold stance in the face of uncertainty, and today - we must continue to stand boldly in faith to our Creator, Redeemer and King.

Consider this!
  • How do believers come to more fully understand the character of God?
  • Why does the world dilute and deny the absolute truths in the Scriptures?
  • What do you believe about Christ?
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me. Father, Son and Spirit ~ three in One ~ we cannot understand Perfect Love, but we can accept this Gift by faith. Give us the courage to grow in understanding of the Living Word that we might be light in the darkness. Amen. ~ dho
* 1 John 2:28 The Message - . . . Live deeply in Christ.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Living Hope

“The hope we have in Christ is an absolute certainty. We can be sure that 
the place Christ is preparing for us will be ready when we arrive, because with Him 
nothing is left to chance. Everything He promised He will deliver.”
Billy Graham

“One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.”Psalm 27:4 ESV

Just before Jesus ascends to heaven, He instructs the disciples to tell the story of Good News to all people. His final words of encouragement: And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. In Scripture, the last days refers to the time between Christ’s return to heaven after the resurrection and His second return to earth. The last days are now! The promise remains true; Jehovah Shammah, the LORD is there, dwells with us. God’s presence with His people is certain.

Scripture tells us that in the last days Jesus is mocked and questioned. Arrogance attempts to diminish the power of God, to discredit His role in creation, and to dismiss His promise of judgment. People choose other gods to worship. With humility, His faithful followers must earnestly continue to be about the work God calls us to do. LORD, Creator and Promise Keeper, Your grace falls gently in the midst of these harsh last days. Forgive those who deny You and give them a reason to hope. I long to dwell in Your Presence all the days of my life. Here I see the beauty of Extravagant Love and know the unexplainable joy of Living Hope. As I eagerly anticipate what You will do next, help me tell Your story of Grace! Count me alive in Christ. Moment by moment, Jehovah Shammah, You are here! - dho 

Thursday, November 03, 2016

When Grace Meets the Enemy

Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:7-8 NLT



During the Greco-Roman times that Jesus teaches about loving, forgiving and serving others, genuine sacrifice of one's life for another is as rare as the concept of "a good man". This kind of heroic act would not be common, and for the Jewish people, this kind of offering would not be praised. When the Greeks talk about enemies becoming friends after some conflict, these conversations stay within the context of individuals and certainly did not include God. Jesus enters this culture, introduces the idea of reconciliation between a person and God, and offers His own relationship with God, the Father, as an example of divine fellowship. Jesus says, I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me. Remain in My love.

Jesus not only describes the blessings of fellowship with God but willing lays down His own life for His friends. As Jesus tells the Disciples, There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends, He knows that in a few hours He will live out these words. But for whom? What friends? For those who beat Him and those who nail Him to the cross, for those who watch and mock, for those who fled in fear and hide, for those barter for His robe, for the liars and hypocrites, for the selfish and greedy, for the lazy and defiant, for the sick - the weak - the poor, for the healthy - the strong - the rich, for the leaders and the followers, the merchants and the farmers, the scholars and the students, for those who steal and murder and commit adultery, for those who hate and those who pretend not to care, for those who smile and pretend not to grieve, for the hopeless and helpless, the homeless, the orphan, the widow, for the elderly, for the children...for those then and those to come, for you...for me! 

Dying for someone upstanding or even good remains a rare, heroic act. Perfect Love lay down His life for the unworthy, the unclean, the sinner, the shunned. No person is worthy of such love, but Jesus chooses us. When Grace meets the enemy, possibilities are endless. This holy relationship can exceed all expectations. Grace invites each of us, I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in My love. This is the greatest Friendship~dho