Evergreen Devotions, December 8, 2018

 I both love and hate that picture," said Brandon Merrick, the pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Paradise.

The photograph, provided to KRCR by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, shows the church on Pentz and Billie Roads in flames while in the foreground is a standing upright cross on November 8th.

"I hate what the fire destroyed," said Merrick. "But I love what has been saved from that, and that is the cross."

"That's the Gospel," he said.

Why it was untouched by the fire is for others to decide.

It's worth noting, however, that there were 30 feet of asphalt that separated the fire from the cross.  Still, Pastor Merrick said the image speaks volumes."The fact that the cross stands is what I think is truly important about that picture," he said.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

The Power of God is higher than any destruction, we may face!  Advent is a reminder that God's plan for peace and hope, will not be thwarted.  One day soon, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything is done in it will be laid bare. 2 Peter 3:10

At the second advent of Christ, after the fire, a new heaven and new earth will bring God's peace and hope to His children.

Evergreen Devotions December 7 2018

"God’s story is a scandal, and his family line is as complicated and human 

as ours. The good news of Advent is that God did not choose immunity 

from scandal. He was born into it. And if the whole story of salvation can 

be born from blemished history, imagine the good he can do with our 

broken stories." Jen Pollock Michael

One shocking incident in our salvation is the Story of Rahab.  Rahab was 

a prostitute who hid the Hebrews spies, casing Jericho's defenses. By 

hiding them, she saved their lives.  Read Joshua 2:1-7

She then helped them escape. In return, they promised that when the city 

was attacked, Rahab and her family would be spared.  Read Joshua 

2:15-24

Jericho was captured, the walls ‘came tumbling down’, and there was 

wholesale slaughter.  But Rahab and her family were spared, by hanging a 

red or scarlet rope out her window.  Read Joshua 6:12-25.

A crimson cord was the symbol of salvation for Rahab and her family. 

Joshua (The Old Testament name for Jesus) saved Rahab (a prostitute). 

This story proves you are never beyond God’s ability to include you, 

regardless of how you’ve been excluded. No matter who you are or what 

you’ve done, Jesus came to invite you into his family.  The hope for man's 

scandal is the red blood or Jesus death on the cross.  For the wages of sin 

is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 

6:23.

Evergreen Devotions 4, December 6 2018

At Bible Study we read; We have found this man (Paul) to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect 6 and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.  Acts 25:5,6

Why the name Nazarenes?  The name Nazarene was apparently applied to them by some in the community, and that name wasn’t looked upon with respect or honor.

Its origin comes from the town of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. It was in the territory of Galilee, and many people in that society had the bigoted idea that Nathanael expressed in John 1:46: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Before His ministry, Jesus lived there along with His parents, and He was called a Nazarene as the prophets had foretold (see Matthew 2:23).

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible says this about Nazareth: “The character of the people of Nazareth was such that they were proverbially despised … John 1:46. To come from Nazareth, therefore, or to be a Nazarene, was the same as to be despised, or to be esteemed of low birth; to be a root out of dry ground, having no form or comeliness. This was what had been predicted by all the prophets. When Matthew says, therefore, that the prophecies were ‘fulfilled,’ his meaning is, that the predictions of the prophets that he would be of a low and despised condition, and would be rejected, were fully accomplished in his being an inhabitant of Nazareth, and despised as such” (comments on Matthew 2:23).

Vincent’s Word Studies says, “The very name of Nazareth suggested insignificance. In Hebrew it meant sprout or shoot. The name is prophetically given to the Messiah (Isaiah 11:1).”

Based on the Hebrew word netzer, the Nazarenes were also referred to as the “Branchites,” or followers of the One they believed to be the Branch—Jesus Christ.

Our hope is not because of our greatness, but the greatness of our God.  Advent is a time we long for God's rule and the end to mankinds folly.  We have hope because we are an insignificant sprout, therefore we trust the One who grows shade trees out of rotting wood!

What are you trusting besides God, today?  Perfectionism?  Political solutions?  Your Control?  Your money?

How do we find hope in hopelessness?  How do we find life in death?
How do we find serenity, in sheer madness?

Worship God with our questions.  When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, Luke 11:53  The teachers of the law opposed God with their questions.  But I believe Job is an example we can also Worship God with our queries.    Most events that appear hopeless are not, but they sure are puzzling and discouraging!  God knows this, worship Him by vocalizing your doubts, in the darkness, and yet pray for the strength to trust.  

Evergreen Devotions December 4, 2019

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots. Marcus Garvey

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. Isaiah 11:1  NLT

Who in your life needs to know the sprout, from the stump of Jesse?  This question is how 

yesterdays devotion ended and where I wish to begin today.   For I am not ashamed of the 

gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to 

the Jew, then to the Gentile. Romans 1:16  Because the Bible is a collection of ancient 

writings, we wrongly use the past tense for the Gospel.  Grammatically, the entire verse is in the 

present tense. There are three verbs: I am not ashamed, is and believes. All are in the present tense. 

The gospel is, not was, but is the power of God, it is to all who believe, and it is to the Jew first.

 How many watched the arrival of George Herbert Walker Bush's coffin arrival to the Capitol.  

This is how the New York Times describes it; "Former President George Bush made his final 

journey to the nation’s capital on Monday, his coffin arriving at the Capitol as the rays of the 

setting sun washed over the plaza where family and friends stood solemnly during a 21-gun 

salute that began four days of commemoration of his life and death.

With all the pomp and pageantry of the first presidential state funeral in 12 years, Mr. Bush was 

welcomed back to the building where he served four years in Congress at the start of a political 

a career that would take him to the heights of power. He will lie in state there until Wednesday’s 

funeral service at Washington National Cathedral.

For a majority of Jewish faith in the first Century, Bush's funeral is a good metaphor of their 

Messianic expectations.  The Messiah would restore the Throne of David, and it's land.  He will 

strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 

Isaiah 11: 4. 

The Gospel is present tense, but can only be fully appreciated in HIStory.  Man's greatest 

achievements have always fallen short of man's need.  Paul put it this way; We know that the 

whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 

Romans 8:22.  Let's celebrate great men like George Herbert Walker Bush, but realize hope in 

man is no hope at all.  Our only hope is Jesus, the shoot from the stump of Jesse.  May we 

pray today; Come, Lord Jesus, Come Quickly Lord Jesus.  Amen. Who in your life needs to 

know the sprout, from the stump of Jesse?

Evergreen Devotion 1

Evergreen Devotions December 3 2019

The tree stumps say 'We are tree stumps torn out of the ground by men, sometimes by the 

wind, we have big tendrils full of earth that drink out of the earth'  - Jack Kerouac, 'Big Sur'

Tree stumps are the remnants of a life. Strong, rooted and vibrant...a living memory of a place. 

Logs from these stumps should be polished, oiled and celebrated….(https://serenityinthegarden.blogspot.com/2010/08/ode-to-log-stumps.html)

And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall 

bear fruit. Isaiah 11:1 ASV

Isaiah 10 ends in with the metaphor of God as a lumberjack hewing down the proud.  Chapter 

11 opens with is looking over the stumps, and causes a Branch to grow out of one of them, the 

the root of the family of Jesse, David's father.

The first week of advent is a remembrance of the hope we have in the Almighty.  Man-made 

hope, is proud, arrogant, violent and short lived.  Symbolical of man's faith is the ancient 

Kingdom of Assyria.  For 300 years, from 900 to 600 B.C., the Assyrian Empire expanded, 

conquered and ruled the Middle East, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, the eastern coast of the 

The Mediterranean, and parts of today’s Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. Since around 1250 B.C., the 

Assyrians had started using war chariots and iron weapons, which were far superior to bronze 

weapons. These tools and tactics made the Assyrian army the most powerful military force of 

it's time. (https://www.historyonthenet.com/assyrian-empire-the-most-powerful-empire-in-the-world)   

300 hundred years appears to mortals as eternity.  But it's a speck in eternity, and it holds out 

microscopic hope to men who die. God was letting his Children know, the Assyrians and others 

would come and bring judgment, God would still use them to bring forth life. Even if they 

looked like a long-dead stump, God can bring forth life. It is what we celebrate this first 

week of advent.

God's hope is full of humility and life.  . In calling the Messiah a Rod from the stem of Jesse, 

the LORD is emphasizing the humble nature of the Messiah. Jesse was the much less famous 

father of King David. It is far more humble to say "from Jesse" than to say "from King David."

We see a bare, withered tree stump, robbed of its trunk and top, and it looks as though the 

stump will never bear any fruit anymore. But, a small shoot sprouts from the root of this dry 

stump which is the Davidic dynasty. Because of its unsightliness and misery, it is not named 

after David but after his father. When Christ was born, there was nothing royal about that 

dynasty. But a new shoot sprang from this old stem." (Bultema)

Christmas hope is a promise that death does not have the final say.  

Christmas hope is a promise that no matter how broken and 

unrepairable you feel, God's not through with you yet.  You may 

be finished with yourself but God is not finished with you.  You may feel unchosen, distant and 

forgotten.  But God has not forgotten you.  You may have messed up so big morally, you think 

there is no forgiveness.  You may have messed u an important relationship in your life, and you 

are certain that love has been cut down.  But God is not shocked by your sinful behavior.  I 

promise he Saw it coming.  And he sent his one and only son to die for what you would do one 

day.  And he is not at a loss how to overcome your sin!  You may have run so far from God that 

you think there is no way back.  The family tree of Jesus is a clear demonstration that God is 

not through with you yet.  If God was not through with people like Tamar, Judah, Rahab, David 

and Bathsheba then he is not finished with you!  Christmas is the ultimate promise that God is 

with you!

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide_Isa/Isa_11.cfm

What proud tree in your life needs hewed done?

How can you express and humility Today?  Accept limitations?  Open the door for someone?  

Ask for forgiveness?

Who in your life needs to know the sprout, from the stump of Jesse??