Sound Mind Set

Philippians 2:7-8 (Message)  Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.  The amazing thing about Christmas is that the Almighty God on high knew we would ever be able to measure up enough to be worthy of his Kingdom. But that didn’t stop His Love for us. Instead, He came for us.  He stepped aside from his status, position, and Holiness and lowered himself because of Love. And he didn’t just do it one time, as in for one day. He stayed and walked in our shoes for 33 years, without entitled privileges. He came in a humble barn. He died in a humiliating way. This is ultimate Love, that lays down his rights, lays down justice, lays down entitlement, and lowers himself to our level, for our sake.   If we’re honest, we all esteem ourselves better than other people from time to time. Someone who’s wronged us, someone who’s disappointed us or offended us… Someone who we compare ourselves to, saying… we would never do that.   Can you picture a person in your life that fits into that category in your mind right now?  This passage starts with these words - Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. What can you do to humble yourself and reach out to that person and show them Love today?   Maybe it’s a word of encouragement; maybe it’s just letting them know that you were thinking about them, maybe say a prayer for them. Let’s follow the example of Christ and let go of any entitlement or privilege, not just a thought but in deed.  Lets pray: God of Love, Your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us. Love incarnate. Help us walk in that Love during the weeks of Advent, as we wait and prepare for his coming again. Thank You for Your unfailing, sacrificial and redeeming Love for me. Immanuel, God with us. 

Zephaniah 3:17 NLT   For the Lord your God is living among you.      He is a mighty savior.   He will take delight in you with gladness.      With his love, he will calm all your fears.[a]      He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”    This prophecy talks about what came to be, what actually, historically happened. It is undisputed by atheists and believers alike… Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It’s easy to miss the significance of words spoken thousands of years before the facts that actually came to be. Jesus was a living, breathing human, just like you and me. God becomes flesh. God living among us.     This passage is a prophecy, a promise, and a reality.   When was the last time you felt like anyone delighted in you, was full of gladness just because you were here?     That is how your God, who is with you, feels about you.    What is something that you’re afraid of right now?   This passage says with His Love he will calm your fears. It doesn’t say that your fears will be gone entirely, it says because He is with you, your fears will be calmed.    Your Father will rejoice over you with joyful songs. This season is full of happy songs; next time you hear one, think about the joy it represents and imagine this is how you make God feel, happy. He rejoices over you with happy songs.   Let's pray: God of Love, Your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us. Love incarnate. Help us walk in that love during the weeks of Advent, as we wait and prepare for his coming again. Thank You for Your unfailing, sacrificial and redeeming Love for me. Immanuel, God with us.

2 Titus 3:4-6 ( Living Bible)  But when the time came for the kindness and Love of God our Savior to appear, then he saved us—not because we were good enough to be saved but because of his kindness and pity—by washing away our sins and giving us the new joy of the indwelling Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us with wonderful fullness—and all because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did.  Kindness and Love saved us; It was born onto this earth thousands of years ago. Not because we were good enough, not because we were worthy, but because of a great love, kindness and mercy.   Is there something in your life that feels like it gets in the way of experiencing God’s kindness and Love? Something that blocks you from His unconditional acceptance, kindness and mercy?    This passage tells us because of Jesus, the Christ, ALL our sins are washed away and replaced with new joy by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us with wonderful fullness. The word fullness is mentioned many times in our advent readings.  This wonderful fullness comes from an indwelling of the Holy Spirit as our sins, our past, our wounds are washed away.   This fullness available to you takes no account of what you have done or not done; it has nothing to do with if you are good enough or not good enough. It has everything to do with the Love that is beyond us.   In what way has God shown his kindness and Love to you this week?  Lets pray: God of Love, Your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us. Love incarnate. Help us walk in that Love during the weeks of Advent, as we wait and prepare for his coming again. Thank You for Your unfailing, sacrificial and redeeming Love for me. Immanuel, God with us.

Isaiah 49:13-16 (MESSAGE)  Heavens, raise the roof! Earth, wake the dead!      Mountains, send up cheers!   God has comforted his people.      He has tenderly nursed his beaten-up, beaten-down people.  But Zion said, “I don’t get it. God has left me.      My Master has forgotten I even exist.”  “Can a mother forget the infant at her breast,      walk away from the baby she bore?   But even if mothers forget,      I’d never forget you—never.   Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands.      The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight.   Your builders are faster than your wreckers.      The demolition crews are gone for good.   This passage compares the love God has for us with the Love of a mother and her infant. There’s little, if anything on earth, that compares to a mother and her intimate love for the baby she nurses. But this passage goes deeper and explains that the imperfect mother will fail at perfect love in some way or another. But not God, not ever. Maybe, this Christmas season, you might feel forgotten or overlooked. Or perhaps you know someone who you suspect might feel that way.   Can you picture right now your name written on the back of the hand of the God of the universe? He says that His Love for you will never fail and promises that the walls you are rebuilding are never out of his sight. Your builders are faster than your wreckers; the demolition crews are gone for good.    Because of our Father's love for us — sending his Son whose birth we celebrate— it says those things that work against us are slower than the one that builds in us. The demolition crews, the false love that this world represents, are gone for good because of the perfect Love born in   Bethlehem, from heaven above is here. This Love that says— I’d never forget you—never.   Lets pray: God of Love, Your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us. Love incarnate. Help us walk in that Love during the weeks of Advent, as we wait and prepare for his coming again. Thank   You for Your unfailing, sacrificial and redeeming Love for me. Immanuel, God with us. 

Romans 15:12-13 Isaiah’s word: There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse, breaking through the earth and growing tree tall, Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope! Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope! The good tidings of great joy from thousands of years ago is that there is a root breaking through and growing big enough for everyone, everywhere to take hope. That same promise made thousands of years ago is just as true today, on a daily basis. There is a root that has already been planted in your life because of what happened in Bethlehem thousands of years ago. And that root of hope can break through the ‘earth / ground of your life’ and grow. Because of the root of Jessie, thousands of years ago, and the root of Jesus growing in our lives today, verse 13 comes alive. The hope, that is the fruit of what has already been planted as followers of Jesus, becomes infectious to all of those around us. Let’s personalize this passage. May God of green hope, fill me up with joy, fill me up with peace, so that my believing life is filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit and flows over with infectious hope. Let’s pray: “Immanuel, Lord Jesus, We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us. To you we say, "Come Lord Jesus! Help us to receive and embrace the Hope eternal that only You bring. Emanuel, God with us. Amen"

Isaiah 9:6-7 A child is born, a son is given and all authority will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. There are names given to this child that distinguish Him from all others that have come before Him or gone after Him. Take a few moments and reflect on the names given and identify the hope that He is to us. Where do you need the son of God to be your wonderful counselor? What areas of your life do you need him to be mighty God? How can he play the role of everlasting father in your life? How can you crown him the prince of peace in your life? As we close out our time think, about this declaration made from verse 7 of this passage this time from the Message Bible His ruling authority will grow and there will be no limits to the wholeness He brings Let’s pray: “Immanuel, Lord Jesus, We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.  To you we say, "Come Lord Jesus! Help us to receive and embrace the Hope eternal that only You bring. Emanuel, God with us. Amen”

Isaiah 9:2, The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned. Have you ever turned on a light on your phone in bright sunlight? There is little affect at all. But that same light in pitch darkness illuminates everything around it. There is a direct correlation between the effectiveness of light and darkness. Without darkness there can be no light. Take a few moments to search your heart for the darkest area that is in your life right now. Could it be that this Christmas season, and the Hope that it represents, is about the dawning of a great light in your deepest darkness? We live in a dark world, but no darker than it was the night in Bethlehem thousands of years ago. The same God that became a great light in deep darkness is here, and in our hearts, our lives. Our souls are so often like that city of Bethlehem, covered in deep darkness, hidden places, shamed self-assumptions. But the hope that we have, is that those dark places are exactly where God wants to be with us. Emmanuel. Let’s pray: “Immanuel, Lord Jesus, We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us. To you we say, "Come Lord Jesus! Help us to receive and embrace the Hope eternal that only You bring. Emanuel, God with us. Amen”

Isaiah 7:14 Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She’ll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us). Impossible is a word that comes to mind when reading this passage. God defies, smashes, destroys what we perceive to be impossible. Even in the word impossible are the words I’m Possible. What situation in your life right now seems impossible? Think, a virgin womb. Can your dare to believe it is possible for the same God to destroy, defy and crush what you see as impossible and become God with you, where ALL things are possible? The expectant hope we celebrate this advent as we prepare our hearts for the coming of the one who makes all things new is summed up in this idea - All things are possible because God is with us - Immanuel. Let’s pray: “Immanuel, Lord Jesus, We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.  To you we say, "Come Lord Jesus! Help us to receive and embrace the Hope eternal that only You bring. Emanuel, God with us. Amen”

From now until Christmas we will be focusing each week on a tradition of advent. Advent is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. This week we focus on the first tradition HOPE. Micah 2-4 But you, Bethlehem, David’s country,    the runt of the litter— From you will come the leader    who will shepherd-rule Israel. He’ll be no upstart, no pretender.    His family tree is ancient and distinguished. Meanwhile, Israel will be in foster homes    until the birth pangs are over and the child is born, And the scattered brothers come back    home to the family of Israel. He will stand tall in his shepherd-rule by God’s strength,    centered in the majesty of God-Revealed. And the people will have a good and safe home,    for the whole world will hold him in respect—    Peacemaker of the world! Do you feel like the runt of the liter? Asking, what good can come from you? That’s how Bethlehem felt before the unthinkable happened. From this runt of the litter, the most unexpected, the least likely event in history happened. As we prepare our hearts for celebrating the arrival of the Peacemaker of the world, can you offer what you have, as unsightly as you may think it is, as a birthing place of Hope this season. Often in is in the least likely places that we encounter the closeness of Immanuel - God with us. Let’s pray: “Immanuel, Lord Jesus, We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.  To you we say, "Come Lord Jesus! Help us to receive and embrace the Hope eternal that only You bring. Emanuel, God with us. Amen”

Revelation 21:1-7 NLT  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.  Did you hear it? God’s home is among His people. He will live with them. God Himself will be among them. Tears gone. No more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone … forever. And please, please hear these words … “Look, I am making everything new.” And with God, everything indeed means everything.  In this Christmas season, look for God. Listen again to these key phrases written for you.  Look, God’s home is now among his people!  He will wipe every tear from their eyes  Look, I am making everything new!  to all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.  I will be their God, and they will be my children  I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End.  This is the message we reflect on in this season - Immanuel—God with … you.  Pray with me: “Immanuel—God with me, thank You for not abandoning me, but coming to save me through Jesus. Thank You that a baby in a manger changed everything through a man on a cross. I invite You to come and be with me now and stay in my heart forever. Help me to make room for You always. As above, so below.”