Pastor Tim talks about extravagant gifts and what the Bible says about the truly extravagant gift we receive at Christmas because of the very first Christmas.
When you prepare a small dinner and twenty guests arrive unannounced, you wish you'd known what was coming—yet knowing what to prepare isn't the only kind of readiness that matters. Luke 1 tells of a righteous priest who knew exactly what God expected of him, yet when God himself appeared with news he'd prayed decades to hear, he found himself unprepared to simply listen.
Join Little Hills and other FaithTree partner churches for a continuous rotation of Christmas music, nostalgic fireplace scenes, meditations from Scripture and more throughout Christmas weekend and the 12 Days of Christmas. Whether you want just a few moments of Christmas joy or want to watch the whole thing, it will be streaming 24x7 until Epiphany. Come back here for the link starting Christmas Day.
A 12 Days of Christmas Journey Through the Joys of Jesus’s Life
As we give gifts small or large, simple or snazzy, this Christmas, this year’s devotional booklet invites us to reflect on the profound ways in which God gifts us to give the best sort of gifts to others. We will go on a twelve day journey through Galatians 5:22-26, exploring how the Holy Spirit transforms us to embody the essence of Christmas hope in the year ahead.
We’ve all wanted to write that resignation letter—to let the world know the hurt isn’t our fault. Joseph faces that exact urge in Matthew 1, betrayed and confused after he finds out Mary, the woman he is betrothed to, is pregnant — forced to choose between saying his peace and keeping it.
Pastor Tim spent time in Busiek State Forest to better think about the time between the Newborn servant coming into the world and when we, His followers, will get to experience His triumph.
Plans go awry all the time, and in the moment it feels terrible whether the fault is human weakness or God himself saying no to what we wanted. That's exactly where Mary finds herself in Luke 1 when Gabriel's greeting turns her ordinary day—and her entire future—upside down.
Pastor Tim thinks about how God brought light into existence, we turn from the light, but Christmas is the story of God bringing that light back to us.
Two truths come out of Jesus being a human being: one that reminds us of His understanding of our situation and one that reminds us our present state is not the destination.
We’ve all found ways to look faithful without being faithful—the outward gesture that signals piety while the heart is somewhere else entirely. That’s exactly the trap Isaiah 7 sets in plain sight: a king who quotes the law of God to refuse the sign God himself is offering, and whose very piety is the problem.
