Advent Week 4 - A Prayer of Peace

Read: Isaiah 9:6-7, Philippians 4:7, Romans 6:23

Dear Heavenly Father,

As we enter this fourth week of advent we consider peace, especially the true peace that come from You!


I thank You and praise You that Youre Word reminds us and we celebrate this time of year, that Jesus is the Prince of Peace!

I praise You that we can experience true and lasting peace through knowing Him!
Even amongts the chaos that we experience in life HIs peace is beyond our understanding. 

Advent Week 3 - A Prayer of Love

Read:  Micah 5:2, John 3:16, 1 John 4:9-17

Dear Heavenly Father,

As we enter this third week of advent we consider love...most importantly Your great love.

I thank You and praise You that we can celebrate and rejoice during this season and beyond that You sent Your love down to earth through Your Son Jesus. 

6 Practical Ways You Can Help People In Need

Read: Matthew 25:31-40

Not too long ago I went on an outing to a local wildlife refuge wetlands area to enjoy some bird watching and hiking.

It was a cold late fall day and I was outside for hours. About an hour into my time I realized I was getting cold and even though I'd worn a warm sweatshirt and warm outdoor vest, I'd forgotten a hat and gloves. Needless to say I was feeling it. I pressed on for a couple more hours but then my hands and ears started to feel numb and my hands started to turn reddish. So, I decided that I better get out of the elements and warm up a bit.

On the way back to the car I saw a path I hadn't taken...then after I started down it I stopped myself and turned back to my car because I was starting a shiver because of my poor planning. Yes...I needed to get out of the cold.

Advent Week 2 - A Prayer of Joy

Read:  Isaiah 35:10, Luke 2:7-15, Nehemiah 8:10, 1 Peter 1:7-9

Dear Heavenly Father,

As we enter this second week of advent we consider joy in You. 

I thank You and praise you for the great and true joy that comes from knowing You!

As we sing songs of this wonderful season just as "Joy to The World", we remember that Jesus is our true source of joy. 

Advent Week 1 - A Prayer of Hope

Read: Luke 1:26-38, Romans 15:12-13, Romans 5:1-5     

Dear Heavenly Father,

As we enter into this Christmas season, I praise you and thank you for sending Your one and  Only Son Jesus as He's our only hope. 

I praise You that Jesus is the hope of all mankind! 

I pray that we hold onto and never lose the true hope we have in You! May we carry it all year through and proclaim your goodness all year through. 

May You help us proclaim the truth that Christmas represents as captured in Your Word.

Help us not to put hope in anything or anyone that is temporal, rather, completely place our hope in You the never changing one! 

Help us to remember that You will never let us down!

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!

Have you ever wondered about the story behind some of the famous Christmas Carols we sing each year or maybe the hymns we sing from time to time? 

Some of the stories behind the songs range from tragic to triumphant - yet all of them I find fascinating!

One song that comes to mind this time of year is "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" which uses as it's lyrics a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which is a name you may recognize as he wrote many poems. 

His poem was forged through tragedy but God used it in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's life to show forth triumph one Christmas day and today we see that through the verse of the song. 

Here's a good article (one of the many about this poem/song) titled "The Bells of Hope" that provides us with further insight into what was taking place in his life that moved him to write the poem:  http://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/holidays/featured/christmas/the-bells-of-hope

God can use any of our circumstances for His glory and our good and I trust that as you sing the songs of Christmas that you are filled with great joy and peace as you celebrate the true meaning of Christmas - Jesus!

Lastly, I wanted to share this updated version of "I heard the bells on Christmas Day" by Casting Crowns as I find it very moving and beautiful! Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/M7670CXvPX0 
Because He is the reason for the Christmas Season,

rlk

Merry Christmas 2012!!

Hello and Merry Christmas!!

This is a gift from me to you! 

Each Christmas Morning, The Koch Entourage will pause to reflect on why we as a family celebrate Christmas by reading the Luke 2 account of the Birth of Jesus Christ just before we exchange and open gifts. So, I decided to share this will you via the below images as well as the linked PDF version. Enjoy...and again, Merry Christmas!!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/62880866/TheChristmasStory_Luke2_1-35.pdf

Have a wonderful Christmas! Please see the below!

Because He is the reason for this season,

rlk

The Long Awaited One

Waiting...... I don't know anyone, especially in our society who likes waiting! Whether it's for your coffee order, or for the car in front of you to "finally" go when the light turns green, or whatever comes to mind...we aren't great at...Waiting!

Imagine for a moment a man who waited his entire life to see the messiah arrive! Then it finally happened! Wow! What commitment! What a heart he had!

Let me encourage you, that no matter what side of salvation you're on - seek the Lord as He's seeking you, He wants a daily relationship with you and stands ready to forgive you of everything you've done, all the sins you've committed past, present and future! You just need to call upon His name, repent and receive His eternal gift for you - salvation then walk with Him! What a great time of year (any time is great of course) to receive His free gift!

For all of us, the wait is over. Jesus has arrived and is the solution to our ultimate problem which is sin and separation from God!

I wanted to share the below devotional I wrote some years ago that is a great picture of man's commitment and desire to meet the Messiah before he died - and God brought it to pass through what we celebrate on December 25th!

Merry Christmas!

Let me leave you once again, with this benediction:

MAY GOD GRANT YOU THE LIGHT OF CHRISTMAS, WHICH IS FAITH;
THE WARMTH OF CHRISTMAS, WHICH IS LOVE;
THE BELIEF IN CHRISTMAS, WHICH IS TRUTH;
THE ALL OF CHRISTMAS, WHICH IS CHRIST JESUS. –Unknown

With Tremendous Love,
Your Brother and Servant,

rlk
__________________________________________________

The Word:

Read: Luke 2:21-35
Additional Reading: Micah 5:2-4

“The Long Awaited One” by Randolph Koch

Imagine if you had to wait an entire lifetime to attain a goal. This would take patience and determination. Today, in the “I want it here and right now” world we live in, this might not go over too well. Personally speaking, even as I write this, many things come to mind that I've waited for and with some of these things I’ve honestly been waiting for many years for God to open the doors He’s clearly been preparing to lead me through. Let me say, this hasn’t been easy at times and has been very frustrating sometimes. Yet, I keep waiting and keeping my faith and trust in Him as I know He’s preparing the way. He keeps reminding me that it will happen in His will and in His timing- not mine. I look forward to the day when the door swings wide-open for me.

Now, place yourself in Simeon’s shoes for a minute. He was an older and very devout man that the Holy Spirit was working through. It was revealed to him through The Spirit that he would not die before he would see the Messiah. Simeon had literally been waiting his whole life to see Jesus Christ, the Son of God come to Bethlehem as the prophets of old foretold. Then after Jesus was born and circumcised and the days of purification were completed according to the Law, Mary and Joseph made their way to the temple to present Jesus to the Lord. Simeon saw the baby Jesus and took Him with joy into his arms, held Him and said the following words:

"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel." -Luke 2:29-32

The long awaited One had arrived! Simeon’s wait was over! We can only imagine the sheer joy, wonder, and awe he must has experienced as he held in his very arms the One whom God had sent as Savior of the world!

Possibly you’ve been waiting your whole life for something that you just couldn’t place your finger on? Jesus is the One who you’ve been missing and honestly, He’s been waiting for you to realize your need for Him. Please seek Him now while you still have time to receive His gift.

Maybe you have Him now and have received Him but have forgotten what a gift He is? It’s not too late to enter back in re-committing yourself to live for Him, His purpose and plan. It’s never too late to turn away from complacency and bad habits. Even if you feel that you’ve forsaken and completely turned away from Him, it’s never too late to return to Him as His arms are wide open waiting for you to come to Him.

Whatever your situation is, run to him and cling to Him because the long awaited One, Jesus Christ, is waiting for you and came to earth on your behalf for your salvation!

Questions To Get Started With:

-Have you received His gift of salvation yourself?
-Have you been missing something in your life that you can’t quite place your finger on? Have you considered that Jesus Christ is who you’ve been missing?
-If you’re a Christian, have you become complacent in your faith and relationship with Him? If so, do you know what you need to do to get back what you once had with your Savior?
-This Christmas, will you celebrate the true meaning and reason for Christmas?

Christmas Through The Eyes of A Child and Our Greatest Need

Hello and Merry Christmas!

Today I wanted to share two items with you. 

1. I wanted to share this cute video I saw recently at a Christmas celebration of The Christmas Story Through the Eyes of Children:

 

2. Here's a poem that I really love by Roy Lessin titled "Our Greatest Need":

Our Greatest Need
by Roy Lessin

If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator.

If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure,
God would have sent us an entertainer.

But our greatest need was forgiveness,
So God sent us a Savior.  

Have a blessed day!

Blessings during this Christmas time,

rlk

The 12 Days Of Christmas

Hello!

Happy 12-12-12! Hope this message finds you well!

There are twelve days until Christmas! Are you ready? Are you ready to celebrate the most important Birthday ever? I hope you are!

Today, I wanted to share something I found years ago on Dayspring.com. 

Dayspring produces great cards and some years ago they placed the below linked devotional content online.

They called it the Twelve days of Christmas as it is meant to be a 12 devotional countdown until December the 25th.

I placed the 12 devotions in a PDF document for your enjoyment & uploaded it here:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/62880866/The%20Twelve%20Days%20of%20Christmas.pdf

I’ve also uploaded a second PDF document that gives 12 suggested ideas/resources for the 12 days of Christmas here: 
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/62880866/Resources%20for%20the%2012%20days%20of%20Christmas.pdf

There are some good ideas included.

Hope the devotionals and the resource ideas bring you encouragement and a little more of His light to your Christmas holiday festivities and preparations.

Have a wonderful day in Him! Please see the above links.

Because He Lives and He Is the Reason for the Season,

In His Strong Love,
    Your Servant and Brother,

rlk

Are you missing the point of Christmas?

Hello!

It's clear that many really miss the point of Christmas.

From the craziness of Black Friday through the political correctness that people think should be observed - it's clear that people forget or want to forsake the true meaning of what we celebrate during December and on December 25th!

Recently I saw this brief video from Pastor Greg Laurie where he shares some thoughts on this very thing! Check it out below.

Let me ask you, are you missing the point of Christmas? Or, are you getting the point, the truth of Christmas? 


My prayer for you is that you celebrate and really savor the true meaning of Christmas this year and in the years to come!

Because He is The Reason for the Season,

rlk

December 1st: "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day."

You may or may not have heard this before but here's an updated version of "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" by Casting Crowns....Thought it was a good one to kick the month of December off with! Some great food for thought in this song!

Celebrating Advent!

The last Sunday of November is officially the First Sunday of Advent which for many helps kick-off the Christmas Season of Celebration!

It's been my observation that other than some decorations, many churches don't incorporate Christmas, Christmas focused messages or Advent anymore into their Christmas Celebration services leading up to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

This is disappointing to say the least because Christmas and Easter (Resurrection Sunday) are two of the best times of year to share the love and light of our Savior Jesus through proclaiming all He did!

Unfortunately many churches today miss the opportunity to share meaningful Christ focused messages during these times either in their quest to be "relevant" (which anything more "traditional" is seemingly thrown out) or it doesn't seem to fit into “their plan” just to name a few "reasons". 

Either way it's a missed opportunity to share Christ through two amazing views: #1 through His birth and #2 through is death and resurrection!

The same may be said for how we "observe" communion today in many churches as we barely explain it - if at all - the elders don't serve it, and people partake of it without any context to the significance of it. (That’s a good topic for future blog post)

Let me share from my heart to yours that I believe Advent can help provide a meaningful context to how we celebrate Christmas!  Clearly, Advent observance isn't about some "meaningless ritual"  rather it's about the remembrance of His birth - His miraculous entry into the world as a lowly babe!

Do you know that Advent means "Coming" or "Arrival"? So, why wouldn't we focus on His coming/arrival during Christmas where we celebrate His Birthday?!

I share all of this because I wholeheartedly believe that Advent can be a fantastic way for us to: #1 remember the significance of Christmas and #2 help focus our hearts, worship, celebration on the birth of Christ - the reason we celebrate CHRISTmas in the first place!

With this in mind, if you happen to be someone who enjoys incorporating Advent into your Christmas Celebration or maybe you never have, I want to share the following link to the "Celebrating Advent Guide" I put together to share with you!  

Pick you your Free copy here: Celebrating Advent

This simple guide will help provide the basics to help you Celebrate Advent as a church, as an individual or if you have a family - celebrate it as a family!

If your church doesn't incorporate anything directly related to the message of CHRISTmas let me encourage you to consider incorporating Advent into your own home as you count down the days to CHRISTmas!

Even if you don't incorporate Advent into your Christmas Celebration this year - may this simple guide encourage you by pointing you all the more to Christ and help you prepare your heart to celebrate Him - His Coming (Advent) Birthday that we celebrate on December 25th!

No matter what, may you help fight to Keep Christ in your CHRISTmas celebration!

Have a wonderful Christmas! Feel free to share this post and guide with others!

Lastly, If you decide to use this guide, I would love to hear from you (leave a comment here or e-Mail me directly) and would love to know how it helped walk you through Advent - pointing you to Christ!

Because He is the reason for the season,

rlk

P.S. This guide is meant to be a simple tool/guide - a starting point - to guide you in your observance. As you'll see, there are suggested Scriptures and Prayers you can use or you can obviously do your own prayers. Again, this is just a tool to help guide you through your observance. 

You can use this word-for-word each year or again, create your own by adding scriptures from your own studies and of course your own prayers focused on the theme on each week of advent. No matter what, have fun, make it personal as you approach Him with a humble and thankful heart!