A Season of Hope

For most of us, Christmas is a season of great joy, family time, and the making of lasting memories. We bake cookies, sing carols, wrap presents, decorates trees and houses, and watch our favorite Christmas movies. In my family, we have certain Christmas traditions that go back as long as I’ve been alive. We always put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We always watch White Christmas and Home Alone. We eat spaghetti on Christmas Eve and only open presents on Christmas day. Christmas, no matter the year, has always created good memories for my family.

Side point: During our Advent series, Pastor Marshall has been reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas.. If you’d like, you can catch up on that series HERE.

While Christmas is a happy time of the year for many people, for others this can be a tough season, especially for those who have lost loved ones. We like (or want) to think Christmas season is the happiest season for all, but we know that isn’t always true. For some, Christmas is a reminder of loved ones lost, financial hardship, or the feeling of immense loneliness. Christmas, for all its good, can remind us of the things we don’t have and also the things we have lost. I don’t mean to be a debbie downer, but there are a lot of hurting people in this world and those pains do not stop simply because it is Christmas season.

If you are like me and you see Christmas as a season of hope, I’d like to encourage you to do a few things. First, look around you. Take a moment and see all the blessings, large or small, God has given you and give thanks. It’s easy to get caught up in the lore and traditions of Christmas and forget that “every good and perfect gift comes from above”. What I’ve learned, yet again, this Advent season is we wouldn’t be here, at least not in a spiritual sense, without a savior who came in the form of a baby to save the world from itself. Christmas would mean nothing without Christ, and I know how easily it is to forget that crucial point.

Secondly, while you are looking around at the blessings God has bestowed on you, look further and pay close attention to those people near you who may be in pain or who are lonely.Chances are someone you know desperately needs to be reminded they are loved. It could be a coworker, a neighbor, or a even a fellow Red Hills family member. You don’t have to lavish them with gifts, but a kind word and just taking a moment to show them you care, can do wonders in a person’s life.

Finally, if you are one of those people who struggle to find joy during the Christmas season, please know you are not alone. In Matthew chapter one the Angel told Joseph to name his son Jesus, and that he would be called Immanuel (God with us). For the first time in human history (since the Fall) God himself would dwell among his people. He was no longer a God in heaven, but now a God on this physical earth as well. He would be both human and God, and because of this he would have a unique connection with the human condition. Jesus saw those suffering around him. He came in daily contact with their pain and sorrow. He saw the lame and healed their wounds. He comforted the widows and gave strength to the weak. His mission on earth was to lessen the burden of the downtrodden and give hope to the hopeless. And that mission has not changed.

Later, after his death and resurrection, he tells the disciples that,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus is Immanuel. He is with us. And while you may not feel him, and perhaps you even believe he’s abandoned you, know he’s there, at all times and in all situations. He is God with us. He is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, our Deliverer, Redeemer, Savior, and Messiah. He is our King. He sees your pain and desires for you to take refuge under his wings.

My prayer for everyone this Christmas season is that we would be reminded of the type of God we serve. Christmas is not just about a virgin birth and a baby in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. It’s a reminder that our God came to save his creation as a baby, left as a King, and on his finial return will one day end all pain and sorrow.

This is a season of hope.

Merry Christmas!

-Lyell Walker

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Hallelujah (Light Has Come)

BarlowGirl

Quiet Time

In almost every Christian circle there is this phrase used to describe our time spent in prayer or in the word, “quiet time.” It’s an expression used to describe shutting off all distractions and focusing on our savior. It’s getting to know our maker without all of the things that usually cloud our mind. Sounds beautiful right?

Well, what happens when you can’t turn off those distractions? When you have children, silence is a rare and beautiful miracle that you most certainly will NOT experience on a daily basis. And there are plenty of other instances when this “quiet” just won’t happen. But we are in a sermon series all about preaching to yourself and so much of that is dependent on us knowing the word so what do we do?! We stop believing that things have to be quiet for us to spend time reading the bible and getting to know our King.

I recently heard a podcast where they discussed this idea and I realized how much that phrase really stopped me from taking advantage of little moments. I have an 8 month old little boy who always wants to be moving and is currently trying to play with this computer as I type. That can make things difficult but the fact that God doesn’t need perfection is such a beautiful part of the gospel.

While turning off distractions and having uninterrupted time with God is a wonderful and amazing thing, its not the only way to communicate with Him. Life is messy and it’s okay for our “quiet time” to be a reflection of that as well. Even if it’s just 5 minutes here and there of reading the bible on your phone throughout the day, you are still hearing the beautiful truth of God’s word and putting it in your heart.

-Kelsey Turner

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First

Lauren Daigle

Back to Basics

The other day, I was scrolling through Facebook while on a break at work, and after reading status after status and comment after comment I thought, wow… We really like to get on our soap boxes don’t we?

 We live in this age of social media (and society in general I suppose)  where not only does everyone have something to say, but everyone is also the certified expert on the subject, as well as the new modern philosopher when it comes to debating and discussing whatever said topic is.

 It's easy to mock that happening in front of us on Twitter, but the reality is we fall into that same trap in our faith too. We either get caught up in a whirlwind trend with all these radical new ideas that seem ok on the surface, but underneath sinisterly poison the Gospel, or we get so entrenched in defending and debating our views on theological topics that we lose sight of what following Jesus is all about. It’s like it’s more fun for us to create all kinds of new ideas in our head, and talk about things on our own “strength of mind,”  meanwhile we haven’t opened our bibles in weeks to seek out what God actually says about the subject.

There are plenty of different reasons to explain why we get lost in our philosophical and theoretical  discussions (and truth be told, it is probably a combination of all of them), but one of the main and most basic reasons in my opinion is that we’ve stopped reading our Bibles. That’s is, plain and simple. And that’s why I think our most recent message series “How to Study the Bible” has been so important (and just plain awesome).

 Each week (if you missed a week or need to catch up on all of them, we have them posted on the website, and I definitely encourage you to do so), we dove into what it means to actually study the Bible and let it be the instructions for how we do life. This past week really summed it up for me when Marshall spoke on Hebrew 11:6 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” We can’t truly experience the fullness of what it means to be a follower of Christ if we aren’t diving into the word, praying and hearing from God and truly learning how to be like Jesus. Our faith is rooted in what God has already spoken as his word.

 This past week’s message, and message series as a whole, has been a huge encouragement to me. Armed with the tools of how to truly study the Bible, we can use them and walk forward as followers of Jesus emboldened and ready to live for the kingdom of God.

-Chris

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Fear Not

Kristene DiMarco

The B-I-B-L-E

“The B-I-B-L-E!  Yes, that’s the book for me!  I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E!”

Who remembers this old children’s Sunday School song?  It was always one of my favorites and has continued to be a hit with children everywhere in the 50+ years since I sang it as a child.  A simple tune with simple lyrics.    Just another kiddie song?  Hmmm, if you look closer at the content you might find that it actually has a very solid and sound theology about the bible.   Let’s dig in:

1. WORD OF GOD – Let’s start at the end phrase.  I was raised to believe in the absolute truth of the bible;  that it was a holy, divine book and in fact was the very Word of God.  I never questioned this, never woke up one day of my life wondering if God did indeed create the heavens and the earth just as the bible says in Genesis.  It never even occurred to me that there was anyone in the world that didn’t accept the authority and validity of the bible.  Oh, I came across people in school and so forth that were not Christians, did not profess Christ and therefore didn’t know the bible, had never read it or have an opinion on it one way or another.  But, we considered these folks our “mission field,” our “go ye therefore” people whom we were called to present the Gospel to.  Therefore, we could confidently say, “the bible says……” and it carried authority and was the foundation of our witness.  Many times, it was GOOD NEWS to people who were lost and it MEANT SOMETHING!  Sadly, this is not so today.  We live in a culture where the bible carries very little weight in our society.  And, I’m not just talking about people of no or different faith, I’m talking about CHRISTIANS AND CHURCHES all over this country who do not believe that the bible is absolute and is not relative!  Are you shocked?  We should all be shocked.  Sometimes it’s a very subtle thing in churches where the bible is presented as a sort of moral compass and the teachings give people the option to pick and choose what they want to believe and disregard the parts they don’t care for or whatever makes them uncomfortable.  This is becoming more the norm than ever before.  So, settle this point right now today in your heart of hearts:

THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD AND IS ABSOLUTE TRUTH.

“Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in Heaven.”  Psalm 119:89

2. THAT’S THE BOOK FOR ME – I am certainly in favor of reading different works of literature whether it be a book written from an author’s viewpoint, a commentary, a study book or books on theology and doctrine.  But, be very careful that whatever you read completely lines up with the Word of God.  And today there is so much material out there that much wisdom and discernment is needed to navigate your way through what is truth and what is someone else’s opinion if not even distorted truth.  Sometimes, things SOUND very much like truth but are in fact, error with shades of truth.  Very dangerous.  Also, be careful in the many, many differed “translations” (and I use that term loosely) and paraphrases that are available now that claim to be literal translations form the original Hebrew or Greek.  The bottom line is:  if it changes WHO GOD IS or changes the content of any scripture passage, do not receive it.  Also, beware of anything that depicts God as ever being in any lack.  Let me illustrate.  There is a worship song very popular right now that I absolutely LOVE.  I truly enter into worship when I hear or sing it.  However, there is one line in the song that bothers me.  This line says:  “You didn’t want Heaven without us.”  Yes, I am overwhelmed by the grace and mercy of my Heavenly Father who chose to send His only Son, Jesus Christ to come to earth to die for me to atone for my sin, conquering death as He arose, sits on the right hand of the Father as King of Kings and Lord of Lords for all eternity, Hallelujah,  and thereby has reconciled me back to Himself!  Praise His Holy name!  But, quite frankly, the point needs to be made that although God acted out of His great MERCY for us He was nonetheless  fine with Heaven the way it was and did not ‘NEED’ anything or anyone else to complete Him.  He is the Great I am, Almighty God and has no lack.  Just an example.  Do I throw the song out because that one lyric?  NO!  I just disregard it and go on with my worship.  That’s discernment and sometimes that’s all that is needed, but I do suggest praying for the Holy Spirit to guide you in all that you do.

3. I STAND ALONE ON THE WORD OF GOD – This of course, relates to the number 2 point.  If in doubt, stand ALONE on God’s holy Word.  You can never get enough of it, never read it too much, never run out of truths, direction and anointing from it!  Read it, meditate on it, soak in it, taste it, chew on it, swallow it and live in it!  The Word will NOT come back void.  I guarantee it!

“So shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth;  it shall not return to Me void but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” -Isaiah 55:11

So back to the kiddie song:  Sometimes we need the faith of a child as Pastor was teaching in our last sermon series, to walk in truth.  Yes, sometimes, LESS IS MORE!  I think I’m going to sing this song all day…….

“The B-I-B-L-E!  Yes, that’s the book for me!  I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E!”

May it be unto us Lord, according to Your Word.

Amen and Amen.

Linda Walker

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The Secret Place

Phil Wickham

Do as I Say...

Not as I do.  How many of you have ever heard that quote? It is ridiculous really. Nothing speaks louder of our lives than our actions. The way we act is what informs those around us ABOUT us. 

Having children is basically placing your entire life under a microscope. There is nothing more annoying than having eight little eyes watching your every move in an up close and personal way. Try going to the bathroom alone folks. Definitely not going to happen. 

As dumb as the quote is "do as I say not as I do" and you will never hear me say it to my kids BUT I have found that I live it out. For example, after a drive in the van with my four angels, where the talking has become shrill and turned to yelling with a few bouts of crying in between...my anger level slowly rising to the point of boiling. I yell at them. That's what I said! I YELL AT THEM! (And now I have yelled at you too.) 

Moving this story along, some time later I hear my oldest child, who is now six, get in a rage about something her three year old punk brother has done. She starts screaming at the top of her lungs informing him of her unhappiness. 

*fold arms - cross legs - tilt head upward- insert thought bubble "hhhhhmmm" 

Right?! I must raise my voice often enough that my oldest child has found it necessary to do the same with her siblings. 

*insert mom freak out moment

My actions are speaking far louder than my words. Me saying to my kids "speak kindly and softly" means jack when their whining drives me to yelling. 

What can I say? I come by it honestly. I come from a family of yelling folk. That isn't truly my excuse, but it is also true. Parts of my childhood are stuck to me with super glue. I can't erase them. Through God's help I can surely change them. 

I want to become fluent in the gospel of Christ. So the way I speak to my children, my husband, and those around me on the daily is full of love. Joy. Peace. Patience. And all those fruits of the spirit. As I fill my time and thoughts with Jesus and His Word, I begin to see a change. From the inside out, I become free and it seeps into my children's lives. 

Thank God for His grace AND for creating children to be so forgiving. Isn't God good? 

-Ashlyn

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Fill This Place

Red Rocks Worship