Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

Last week we had a short history lesson on Epiphany, the church’s celebration of the Magi’s visits to Jesus in Bethlehem. I mentioned that initially, the church three separate events during Epiphany, the Magi’s visits, Jesus’ baptism by John, and Jesus’ miracle at the wedding in Cana. The Magi’s visits always took center stage during Epiphany since it marked Jesus’ revelation to the Gentile world. As you can imagine, that revelation gives the rest of us, outside the chosen people of Israel, the opportunity to become part of God’s family.

Jesus’ baptism very likely did not occur on January 6th. Still, as you may recall from last week, the early church chose January 6th to celebrate Epiphany, probably due to the liturgical reading from the first gospel circulated among the churches, the book of Mark. Those early gospel readers also believed Jesus was exactly two when the Magi found him, exactly thirty at his baptism, and performed the miracle at Cana exactly one year later. All three events, then, became part of the celebration during Epiphany.

Again, the timing is improbable, considering the precise timing of all the other events in Jesus’ life. Instead of being born in December, we can imagine Jesus coming during the lambing season in the spring, as the Lamb of the world. The Magi could travel in the fall and winter months to avoid the mid-east summer heat, but the probability of seeing Jesus on January 6th is indeed slim. And Jesus’ first recorded miracle at the wedding in Cana likely occurred earlier than a year into his formal ministry.

The reason we celebrate Epiphany, and formerly Jesus baptism and first miracle on January 6th seems solely an accident of where early Christians happened to read Mark’s gospel message. So, now the bit of history in front of us regards the celebrations’ separation timeline. How long has the church put Jesus’ baptism as its own commemoration time? The answer surprised me when I did some research on the topic.

For four centuries, beginning in the 1500s, Jesus’ baptism didn’t appear as a commemoration at all in the Roman Catholic church. Then, in 1955 Pope Pius XII wrote a separate commemoration for the Baptism of Our Lord as part of the Mass after Epiphany. He didn’t specify any date to use the observance but suggested it be immediately after Epiphany. Pope John XXII revised the Roman Catholic church calendar, setting January 13thas the commemoration date. Not until 1969 did the Commemoration of the Baptism of Our Lord settle on the calendar as it is today, the first Sunday after Epiphany, a decree made by Pope Paul VI.

Other liturgical churches followed suit, as many follow the lectionary established by the Catholic church. The church calendar provides observances for many events in Jesus’ life that we, in the evangelical community too often overlook at our misfortune. Jesus’ baptism is one of those. We read about it in all the gospels. Mark records it like this:

This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King, the Son of God.

 Isaiah the prophet told us what would happen before He came:

Watch, I will send My messenger in front of You

    to prepare Your way and make it clear and straight.

You’ll hear him, a voice crying in the wilderness,

    “Prepare the way of the Eternal One,

    a straight way in the wandering desert, a highway for our God.”

 That messenger was John the Baptist, who appeared in the desert near the Jordan River preaching that people should be ritually cleansed through baptism with water as a sign of both their changed hearts and God’s forgiveness of their sins. People from across the countryside of Judea and from the city of Jerusalem came to him and confessed that they were deeply flawed and needed help, so he cleansed them with the waters of the Jordan. John dressed as some of the Hebrew prophets had, in clothes made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. He made his meals in the desert from locusts and wild honey. He preached a message in the wilderness.

John the Baptist: Someone is coming who is a lot more powerful than I am—One whose sandals I’m not worthy to bend down and untie. I’ve washed you here through baptism with water; but when He gets here, He will wash you in the Spirit of God.

The Jordan River is the setting of some of the most memorable miracles in the Old Testament. On their journey through the wilderness to the promised land, the Israelites walked across the Jordan River on dry ground because God parted its waters. Elisha, one of the prophets of God, healed Naaman by telling him to bathe seven times in its waters. Partly because of miracles like these and partly because of a growing wilderness spirituality, many of the Jews in John’s day are out to hear him and be ritually baptized in the Jordan’s cool, cleansing waters. They are looking for God to intervene miraculously in their lives as He has done in the past. What they don’t know is that God is about to intervene, for at that time Jesus leaves Nazareth and heads south.

 It was in those days that Jesus left Nazareth (a village in the region of Galilee) and came down to the Jordan, and John cleansed Him through baptism there in the same way all the others were ritually cleansed. But as Jesus was coming out of the waters, He looked up and saw the sky split open. The Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove, and a voice echoed in the heavens.

Voice: You are My Son, My beloved One, and I am very pleased with You. (Mark 1:1-11 The Voice)

In these verses, we learn some things. Baptism was necessary to Jesus as it began his public ministry. Another point we miss, but those Jews who knew their Old Testament did not, was the words Mark used to describe the sky opening. The Septuagint uses the same words here that it uses in Exodus 14:21 to describe God splitting the water in the Reed Sea for the Israelites to cross on dry land. The voice from heaven also gave public recognition that Jesus was the Son of God.

Another point we miss, that again, the Jews present who knew the Old Testament well did not, was the pronouncement from the voice Jesus was God’s beloved. Only twice in the Old Testament does God give that description to others, to King David and King Solomon. He described both as beloved when he continued his covenant with them and told them a king from their lineage would always sit on Israel’s throne. Hearing the voice declare Jesus as beloved acclaimed him as Israel’s rightful King. Jesus’ baptism identifies him with Israel’s exodus from Egypt and the kingly line of David.

Why do we need to remember the event? First, it reminds us who Jesus is. When we look back and explore the words describing the “Angel of the Lord” who went before Israel as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, we find it is Yahweh. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the word interchanges give us clues that, although God was never incarnate in the Old Testament, he did appear to men and women in a human form in the Old Testament. When God split the sky to announce his son, he reminds us Jesus, Yahweh in human form split the sea and led the Israelites to freedom.

When God calls Jesus his My Beloved Son, God puts Jesus in a unique category. He not only belongs in the line of Abraham, God’s chosen people to show God’s image to the rest of the nations, but he belongs to the lineage of David. As God’s Beloved Son, Jesus claims the throne of Israel and, by extension of God’s covenant with David and Solomon, the kingship of all the nations of the world. We know who he is, God incarnate, King of kings, and Messiah through his baptism.

Jesus’ baptism also serves as an example to us. If Jesus felt baptism important as the beginning of his ministry, a demonstration of his death to self and life in God, certainly we should follow his example. Baptism doesn’t save us, but it shows those witnesses around us and reminds us through the experience that we die to ourselves and become alive in Christ. Baptism will always be a significant milestone in the life of a Christian.

This week, if you have been baptized, remember what it is for and rejoice in it. If you have not yet been baptized or were too young to know what it meant, consider being baptized. Baptism doesn’t save you, but it is a pivotal event in the life of a Christian. We follow Jesus’ example symbolizing giving up ourselves and living in him.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked THE VOICE are taken from the THE VOICE (The Voice): Scripture taken from THE VOICE ™. Copyright© 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Check out this episode!

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

We probably all celebrate the fact 2020 passed away a few days ago, and 2021 began. But 2021 will only improve if we allow God to improve us one by one. Only by letting his Spirit change us internally will this year be any better than last for you. Well, that’s tidbit number one, but not what we will talk about today.

This week we celebrate Epiphany. It’s an exciting day in the Christian calendar, observed in various ways across the Christian world. The word itself takes on a definition used outside religious connotations today, and when you look in the dictionary, you’ll find the following:

• the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12).
• the festival commemorating the Epiphany on January 6th.
• a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.
• a moment of sudden revelation or insight.

The Greek word is seldom used in the New Testament and generally used with Jesus’ second coming, rather than his birth. In New Testament times, the term more commonly found its way into secular writing, referring to visitations by one of the panthea of gods worshipped by the pagans.

Today, outside of the Christmas season, we most often hear the word used to describe a remarkable or sudden discovery. For instance, the COVID vaccine creators might have had an epiphany as they found the key to finally finding the answer to fighting the disease.

But on the Christian calendar, January 6th marks the Epiphany, the festival commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi. Why January 6th and not some other day? The Gregorian calendar and Julian calendars didn’t match and weren’t even around when Jesus was born. I expect Mary and Joseph didn’t even own a calendar. Most people didn’t in those days. Days of the week were kept to remember sabbaths, but otherwise, phases of the moon were enough to keep up with the months of the Jewish calendar. The priest let you know when sacrifices came due. No one needed to set an appointment for 9:15 on March 24th. Businesses and personal lives just didn’t work that way. So why January 6th?

The best explanation may come from examining the habits of early Christians in their worship. Arrangements of the earliest ancient manuscripts of the gospels follow a liturgical pattern. We assume the original manuscripts were probably written in letter form. Still, as early Christians gathered, read, and studies them, the new arrangement made it easier to incorporate this new faith into their lives. If a congregation started the year reading Mark, their first reading might have been the baptism of Jesus, since most scholars believe Mark wrote his gospel first. They would have found these words:

This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It began as the prophet Isaiah had written:

“God said, ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you

    to open the way for you.’

 Someone is shouting in the desert,

    ‘Get the road ready for the Lord;

    make a straight path for him to travel!'”

So John appeared in the desert, baptizing and preaching. “Turn away from your sins and be baptized,” he told the people, “and God will forgive your sins.” Many people from the province of Judea and the city of Jerusalem went out to hear John. They confessed their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River.

John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. He announced to the people, “The man who will come after me is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to bend down and untie his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Not long afterward Jesus came from Nazareth in the province of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw heaven opening and the Spirit coming down on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.” (Mark 1:1-11 GNT)

From reading historical records from the early church leaders, scholars also believe that the first Epiphany celebrations included the commemoration of not just the visit of the Magi, but also Jesus baptism, and possibly his first miracle at the wedding in Cana. Each of these three events marks the revelation of Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. His actions at Cana proved his abilities as a prophet like Elijah, who performed incredible miracles through God’s power. His baptism by John revealed him as the son of God to the Jews. His visit by the Magi presented the new King to the Gentile world. The Magi’s visit to King Herod made the arrival of the Messiah known to the political world through messaging that must have rippled through the Roman empire at the time.

Today, we separate traditionally separate the other events from the Magi’s visit in celebrating Epiphany and use the passage in Matthew that describes their visit to remember the incredible story of God’s revelation of Jesus to the world. It goes like this:

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterward, some men who studied the stars came from the East to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard about this, he was very upset, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?”

“In the town of Bethlehem in Judea,” they answered. “For this is what the prophet wrote:

‘Bethlehem in the land of Judah,

    you are by no means the least of the leading cities of Judah;

for from you will come a leader

    who will guide my people Israel.'”

So Herod called the visitors from the East to a secret meeting and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem with these instructions: “Go and make a careful search for the child; and when you find him, let me know, so that I too may go and worship him.”

And so they left, and on their way they saw the same star they had seen in the East. When they saw it, how happy they were, what joy was theirs! It went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. They went into the house, and when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshiped him. They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and presented them to him.

Then they returned to their country by another road, since God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod. (Matthew 2:1-12 GNT)

Why is it important we celebrate Epiphany? First, It reminds us of God’s intent to restore our relationship with him. He wants an intimate relationship with us as he had with Adam and Eve before the fall. Second, it reminds us of God’s intent to restore humanity’s original purpose to care for his creation. Jesus came to show us what true humanity looks and acts like, caring for and loving humankind and God’s creation. God wants to renew that in us. Third, Epiphany reminds us God will restore heaven and earth, recreating it to its former glory repopulating it with those he redeems, called by his name, those who believe in him for salvation.

Epiphany reminds us God had a plan ready in the event we failed. We did, and he put his plan into place. Adam and Eve invoked the punishment on all of humanity when they disobeyed God’s command in the Garden of Eden, but God will restore the garden one day. It would take the reversal of the curse of death for it to happen, though. Humans had to pay the penalty for sin, and humans had to conquer death. A human had to do that. The only way for it to happen was through God’s plan to become human and pay the penalty and conquer death himself. So he did – in Jesus.

For those who believe in Jesus as the son of God, who came to pay the penalty for my sin and yours, who died on a cruel cross, who rose from the dead, conquering death for all time, the curse is lifted. Restoration began with his resurrection. A new heaven and new earth are in the making as his Spirit comes to reside in us, empowering us with new life in him.

Epiphany celebrates that revelation. Take time this week to stop and remember, not just the Magi finding him in Bethlehem and bowing at his feet, but the opportunity we also have to bow at the feet of the one who conquered death, lifted the curse, and gives new life to all who believe in him. Epiphany is a sudden revelation or insight, a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being, the celebration of Jesus’ revelation to us. Make his coming a real epiphany in your life today and every day.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Check out this episode!

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

How will you start your new year? Will it start with hope or despair? Do you think 2021 will be better or worse than in 2020? Will we get better at coping with the problems we face in the growing pandemic or will we get worse in our coping skills? I ask those questions about the pandemic elephant in the room because many think the vaccine on the street is the instant answer. But there is a problem with that thinking. You see, for herd immunity, it takes at least 70% of us having the vaccine for herd immunity to become effective assuming the virus’ mutations don’t hinder the vaccine ineffective.

It has taken a week to immunize the first million in the US. Assuming we get better at it and can get ten times better at immunizing our population of 332 million, that still takes us more than half of next year to reach that magic 70% threshold. Until then, our population remains at risk of illness and death at the hands of the pandemic. And to immunize the world’s population, which still endangers us in this global economy in which we live, will take two or three years at best, convincing the richer nations to pay for the vaccines for the poorer countries. What we still don’t know is how long the immunity lasts or if, like flu vaccines, we will need to take it periodically. If so, we may never escape the devastation COVID can cause worldwide.

And if the coronavirus stays with us, the economic downturn stays with us until we figure out how to live and work with social distancing. It means a completely new way of life for all of us. How we build our office spaces, our schools, our manufacturing plants, our restaurants and social gathering places, and every other place people gather to do things. The virus will affect every part of life if we must live with it from now on. Life has and will continue to change, it will be a question of how quickly we can adapt. Can we do that in just one year? We haven’t so far. We’ve relied on the government to help fix something it cannot fix. If we continue to expect the government to give us the answer, we will not have a very good 2021.

So, what do we do with a new year coming into view? Friday, we tear the last page off the old calendar and begin a new one. Many people will make resolutions they won’t keep. Many will start diets that last a few weeks. Some will begin both and stick to them until they reach their goals. A very few will decide it’s time to start that Bible reading plan and get closer to God in the new year. Some of those people will stick with it a few weeks and quit, but I hope more than ever before will stay with those plans and find real solace and peace in God’s word in the coming year. He is the answer to our problems.

In fact, God’s grace provides such remarkable peace and comfort in times of strife, despair, and hopelessness, that it the best time to resolve to give him praise. The lectionary Psalm this week points out our reluctance to praise as it lists humans last it its litany of who gives praise to God. Listen to the words of the 148th Psalm and let it lift your spirits today.

Psalm 148
Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights!
 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host!
 Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.
He established them forever and ever; he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.
Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!
Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!
 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and women alike, old and young together!
Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his faithful, for the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the LORD! (Psalms 148:1-14 NIV)

Jesus told the Pharisees that if the people around him didn’t shout their Hallelujahs during his triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, the rocks and hills would cry out their praise. All those inanimate objects of creation knew the importance of the one entering the city. He was and is the creator and sustainer of all things, of all life. He deserves praise. If people didn’t praise him, the animals around him would sing his praise because even in their ignorance, they knew he created them and was and is the son of the living God.

Our problem, we as the highest of the created order thought we could be like God from the beginning and we still think that. We think we know so much only to find out every day how little we really know. God is omniscient and lets us find out more about our universe a little at a time. Think about how much we have learned about this world in the last fifty years. In 1969, men first stepped onto the surface of an unearthly surface, the moon. Only two years ago, Voyager 2 left what we think is our solar system and entered what we think is interstellar space to find out space isn’t as empty or cold as we thought.

If our sun were the size of a basketball, earth would be the size of a pea, and the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy where we live would be 5,000 miles away. The black hole would also be the size of a basketball, but thousands of times as dense as our sun. So dense, light can’t escape the force of gravity that pulls it into that dark mass. Our galaxy is a medium-sized galaxy among the billions of galaxies we have counted in the sky. All which God created when he said, “Let there be light.”

In our arrogance, we think we know so much, but we haven’t begun to know what God knows. We don’t know how the earth and our universe began. We don’t know why it holds together or why the galaxies are flying apart at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour. We don’t know how the brain works or how memories are stored within the electrical impulses between the neurons. We don’t know how mass turns into energy in nuclear reactions or how to reverse the procedure if Einstein’s equation follows normal mathematics rules so that. We aren’t even sure how many planets or moons exist in our solar system. Now some think there might be a small blackhole ninth planet beyond Neptune circling our sun. We are a truly arrogant species.

What will make 2021 better? Stop and give God the praise he deserves. Read his word. Let his voice, spoken through the prophets, the authors he inspired to record his text centuries ago, come alive for you. Talk to him as a friend in prayer. Imagine him in a chair beside you and talk to him. Share from your heart your every care and burden. Then listen to his guidance. Remember, it will never disagree with his word. He hasn’t changed and never will. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, listen to his advice and follow it.

Then just praise him. Praise him for all he has done for you. Praise him for the creation he allows you to enjoy. Praise him for the breath he gives and the life he brings. Praise him for the opportunity to share his grace with others. Praise Him for the gift of salvation and the washing away of the guilt and stain of sin in your life. Praise him that no matter what this new year holds he will still be the same. Nothing that happens in 2021 will surprise him or change him. He is still the answer for bringing peace and comfort and joy to our hopelessness and despair. Praise him today and every day and the new year will be one of joy the world will never understand until they have Christ in their heart. Have a happy and blessed new year.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV): Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Check out this episode!

Join us as we explore God’s ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church.

I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

The third week of Advent arrived. Christmas draws closer. Some of you may keep an Advent Candle tradition in your home or church and know the meaning of the various colors and symbolism of each candle. For those that might not know, the term advent can be found as early as the 4th and 5th century among early Christians as they await the coming of Jesus’ return. It eventually spread across the entire month of December until it took the shape it does today.

The first Advent wreath came from a Lutheran minister doing missionary work among children. He formed a wreath around a wagon wheel and placed twenty-four candles around it. The children would light a new candle each day, twenty red ones on weekdays and four white candles on Sundays. Later, people formed wreaths of evergreens to symbolize Jesus giving life since, in the winter, evergreens remain alive while all other plants turn brown and die. The circling evergreens also depict God’s never-ending love and eternal life we have in him.

Today’s most common tradition includes an evergreen wreath surrounding five candles; a white center candle, three purple candles, and a pink candle. The first candle represents hope, purple in color, and is called the Prophet’s candle. The color purple symbolizes royalty, repentance, and fasting.

The second candle represents faith and is called Bethlehem’s candle. It, too, is purple. This candle recalls the prophecy where Jesus would be born. The third candle is pink. In the liturgy, the color rose symbolizes joyfulness and rejoicing. The third candle represents joy, called the Shepherd’s candle, remembering the great joy with which the angels announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds.

The fourth candle is purple and represents peace, remembering Jesus came to bring peace to the world. It is called the Angel’s candle and is also purple. The fifth and final candle is white, the Christ Candle. It is lit on Christmas day and signifies pure light and victory.

So, there it is, a short history of the Advent wreath and its meaning. This week, the third week of Advent, we light the Shepherd’s candle, reminding us of the joy the Messiah brings into our world. The Angel’s song announcing Jesus’ birth to that group of shepherds on the Judean hillside filled them with awe and wonder and joy at all they heard. It was a great time of rejoicing as they came into the humble cave where the child lay attended by his mother and father.

But what about us? Here we are in the middle of a COVID crisis. Hospitals filled to capacity across the nation and around the world. Our politics are on the brink of collapse. Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuits and electoral college vote or anything else that might happen in the next month or two, the country’s divide has grown so deep; no one will likely heal it in the next century.

We see social unrest already stirring as factions begin to realize a Democrat government can do no more to fix the nation’s societal ills than a Republican government could. No one can legislate morality. Every country that has tried has failed. So, unrest is once again building because of likely broken promises that no one could keep.

As long as we require social distancing, the economy will slide in a negative direction. Unemployment will rise. The government can’t fix it. Sending checks to everyone only means someone must pay for those checks. A little math tells me if you took the total income of the entire 5% at the top people keep harping about, that pays those checks for maybe a month or two, and then what? Then what is that the rest of us foot the bill. Printing money doesn’t fix the economy.

We face a lot of uncertainly in this Advent season, so what do we have to be joyful? The answer is a lot. We approach Advent with all those problems, much like the early church approached their life. It wasn’t a bed of roses for them, either. Most in the church lived in poverty. If they had possessions before they became Christian, many lost those possessions because of their faith.

Their politics were far worse than ours. At least, we don’t get our heads put on poles along the road if we say something disparaging about the opposing party. Try doing that with Caesar, and that’s what happened to you. Rome had plenty of enemies, but the emperor also had plenty of people on his payroll to find and destroy them. He ruled with fear as his most potent weapon. The soldiers stationed around the empire remained there because of the unrest.

And uncertainty in the early church? Could you eat tomorrow? Was the person you invited to the meeting another one of Rome’s spies? Could you trust your neighbor to keep quiet about the number of people coming to your home every few nights to gather and pray? Would your employer suddenly fire you because he found out you weren’t worshiping Caesar’s image in the temple? How long might it be before the state came and took your children away from you as an unfit parent?

Still, Paul could write these words in his first letter to the church in Thessalonica:

Always be joyful. Continually be prayerful. In everything be thankful, because this is God’s will for you in the Messiah Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire. Do not despise prophecies. Instead, test everything. Hold on to what is good. Keep away from every kind of evil.

May the God of peace himself make you holy in every way. And may your whole being—spirit, soul, and body—remain blameless when our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, appears. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will continue to be faithful. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 ISV)

Always be joyful, prayerful, and thankful, even in the middle of all the bad things that might be going on around you. Despite the political upheaval. Despite the danger to health and life. Despite the economic woes that might head your way. Despite anything that might press against you, Paul told the early Christian community to be joyful, prayerful, and thankful because this is God’s will for you in the Messiah Jesus.

Keeping up those attitudes isn’t always easy, though. The world will do its best to drag you into its mold of despair, discouragement, hopelessness. But as Christians, we know this is not the end. Jesus showed us death does not win. He burst forth from the tomb and promised a new heaven and new earth for those who believe in him for salvation. He promised to build a place for us and come to take us to that place to live with him eternally.

Hope allowed the early Christians to remain joyful, prayerful, and thankful despite their circumstances. And it is that hope that can enable us to have that same attitude despite our circumstances. The unrest and uncertainty of the present age do not dictate our emotions when we allow God’s spirit to direct our lives. The hope of a future with him where death no longer touches us, where pain no longer cripples us, where sorrow no longer has a grip on humanity allows us to keep the joy and peace Jesus promised as his legacy alive in our hearts.

So, what should we do during the rest of this Advent? Spread joy. If Jesus’ spirit lives in you, spread his joy to those around you who need to see some joy in these dark times. His spirit avails himself for just that purpose, to give hope, faith, joy, and peace when the world around us tells us we should feel something different in our circumstances. But we know this isn’t all there is to life. We know the giver of life and that there is more than the few brief years we spend in this fragile shell of flesh and blood now. We know there is something more for those who live in Christ.

Let the pink candle, the Shepherd’s candle of joy, remind you in this third week of Advent that Jesus came to bring joy into the hearts of all men and women who believe in him. He came to give life everlasting. He came to rid us of the guilt of sin and pay its penalty for us that we might have abundant life and real joy in living. Let his joy live in you and spread through you to those who need to see it lived out now.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked ISV are taken from the INTERNATIONAL STANDARD VERSION (ISV): Scripture taken from INTERNATIONAL STANDARD VERSION, copyright© 1996-2008 by the ISV Foundation. All rights reserved internationally.

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

The second week of Advent began in the most interesting times I’ve experienced. Of course, we all deal with the effects of the coronavirus here in the United States and abroad. The disease is wreaking havoc everywhere. Our healthcare workers truly exhibit heroic efforts in combating the progress, but they are exhausted and seem to take two steps back with every step forward sometimes. The virus is just a horrible enemy for the world at large.

I thought we would have a more focused Thanksgiving this year with many stores closed because of the virus. More people staying at home and enjoying a more intimate setting with their immediate family. But I was wrong. Store closed, but we experienced record shopping – $4.5 billion in online sales on Thanksgiving Day. Covid-19 did nothing to curb our appetite for materialism.

And although airports seemed a little emptier this year, I’m not so sure the roads were less crowded than I’ve seen them in years past. So, I think a lot of people headed for family gatherings away somewhere just to get away for a few days. We will find out in the next few days what that means for the multiplied spread of the virus. And please don’t blame the government for our failures to protect each other.

Here we are in a time of anticipation, but of what? More political upheaval? A miracle vaccine to stop the spread of the virus? An instant end to our economic woes? Christmas?

In our house, we definitely prepare for Christmas. To get in the mood, Carole starts watching Christmas movies in July. Decorations take a while. We might stop with the eight trees already up (I hope). Maybe there will be one or two more, but at least they won’t be the six-foot variety. Nativity scenes take prominent places in almost every room. Lights and garland go up on cabinets and shelves. Snow scenes and Victorian villages take shape as different rooms take on different themes throughout the house. Needless to say, our decoration preparation starts early in November and ends not many days before Christmas.

Then there are presents to buy. Carole is the master buyer. She begins finding just the right gifts for everyone starting in January and buys throughout the year, so our shopping is done before most people start. It’s also a great way to find bargains and spread the cost of presents. Of course, when buying just the right present in January, it’s easy to forget you have it, so you find another just the right gift in July. I’m not sure how much that saves, then, but it’s great to watch the kids and grandkids open gifts selected especially with their personalities in mind. Carole could be a great professional shopper, but she says that would take the fun out of it.

Last week, we talked about advent being a time of both looking back to the time of Jesus’ coming. A time of celebrating the fact of his arrival and remembering his life and sacrifice for us. We also talked about advent being a time of looking ahead to the time of his return. He promised to come again to be with those who believed in him for salvation for eternity.

The huge question Christians in the first century and Christians today continue to ask is when? When will he come? Our adversaries point to the 2000 year delay and say it’s a hoax. He broke his promise. He never rose from the dead. He never could because when you’re dead, you’re dead. Our faith is a farse and we might as well admit it. As believers, we know otherwise. We know God’s delay demonstrates grace, not failure. 2 Peter 3 reminds us in these words:

But we look forward to what God has promised—a new heaven and a new earth—a place where everything that has God’s approval lives.

Therefore, dear friends, with this to look forward to, make every effort to have him find you at peace, without ⌞spiritual⌟ stains or blemishes. Think of our Lord’s patience as an opportunity ⌞for us⌟ to be saved. This is what our dear brother Paul wrote to you about, using the wisdom God gave him. (2 Peter 3:13-15 GW)

God’s patience in coming is an opportunity for us to be saved. Paul writes about it, Peter writes about it, John writes about it, Jesus says he will come as a thief in the night when no one expects him. So, we patiently await his coming. His delay is not failure or a broken promise, it is for us. God wants to rescue us from sin and delays his coming because when he comes the opportunity for rescue ends. When he comes again, he comes for justice and judgment. God delays his coming to delay his judgment against humanity.

How, then, should we wait? What should we do? Peter points to some of it in these verses. First, be patient. Remember, he will come, but at his choosing, not ours. In the meantime, make every effort to have him find you at peace. What does that mean? I think we need to find ways to engage our fellowman with love. Not what we see spewing out of Facebook and Instagram, but with the fruit of the spirit Paul enumerates in Galatians – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When we exercise these characteristics in dealing with others, we will be at peace with others.

We should also make every effort to be without spiritual stains or blemishes, Peter says. What does that mean to us? John reminds us we are all sinners, but we have an advocate who will forgive us and cleanse us from every sin. So, we do everything we can to follow in Jesus’ footsteps of righteousness, knowing that without his spirit in us it is an impossible task and even then, we are bound to err on occasion. But we have an advocate that will help us along the way and we can become more like him each day as we confess our wrongs, ask forgiveness, and strive to not repeat those same mistakes again. We can be better with his help.

Finally, as we wait, we have a mission to perform. Mark reminds us of that first Advent when John the Baptist went about the wilderness preaching about the coming Messiah. The gospel by his name begins this way:

 This is the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The prophet Isaiah wrote,

“I am sending my messenger ahead of you

to prepare the way for you.”

“A voice cries out in the desert:

‘Prepare the way for the Lord!

Make his paths straight!’ ” (Mark 1:1-3 GW)

That was John’s mission, to prepare the way for the Lord, the first time. But Jesus gave us the mission to spread the good news, too. And part of that good news is his promise to return. We, too, prepare the way for the Lord’s coming. We should share the good news that he came, but he is coming again to take those who believe in him for salvation to be with him forever.

I don’t think God expects us to where camel hair clothes, eat honey, and live in the desert, but he probably wouldn’t mind us giving up some of the luxuries we gather around us. He probably would ask us to remember the poor and those who are unable to care for themselves. He probably would ask us to be more generous, think less about our earthly future, and more about our future with him.

Advent comes around every year and it gives us an opportunity to stop and think about Jesus’ coming – past and future. We marvel at the nativity story and how God appeared on that first Christmas in those most humble beginnings. We should stop and think just as much about what his second coming will mean. It won’t be humble and quiet next time. He will come to rule the nations. He will bring justice and judgment to the world.

Remember during this Advent, his delay is for us. As Christians, he gives us one more opportunity to share the good news with someone else who needs to hear the message. For those who have yet to believe in him, he gives one more opportunity for salvation. He is coming and it may be very soon. Be ready.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked GW are taken from the GOD’S WORD (GW): Scripture taken from GOD’S WORD® copyright© 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations. All rights reserved.

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