Someone says:
As we prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord, we must do so as the prophets of old told the people: with confession and true repentance of our sins. This is the message John the baptizer came to preach.

Someone reads Mark 1.2-8

2. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way;
3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight.’”
4. John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6. John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. 7. And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. 8. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Pray together:
Merciful God, you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace
to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Sing together:
On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry, Stanzas 1-2

1. On Jordan’s banks the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Come near and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings from the King of Kings.

2. Then cleansed be every Christian breast,
And furnished for so great a Guest;
Yea, let us all our hearts prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.

3. For Thou art our Salvation, Lord,
Our Refuge and our great Reward;
Without Thy grace our souls must fade,
And wither like a flower decayed.

4. Stretch forth thine hand, to heal our sore,
And make us rise to fall no more;
Once more upon thy people shine,
And fill the world with love divine.

5. All praise, eternal Son, to thee,
whose advent sets thy people free;
whom with the Father we adore
and Holy Ghost for evermore.

Are We Really Ready for Advent?

Read: Matthew 25.1-13

Parable of Ten Virgins
1. “Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2. Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 3. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4. but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. 5. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. 6. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8. The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9. But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ 10. And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. 11. Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ 12. But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13. Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

“Getting ready” is on many people’s minds this time of year. What we usually think of are things like shopping, cleaning house,
cooking, addressing and mailing cards, and decorating our homes. This week, through the promises of Christ’s Second Advent, we’ve
learned about another dimension of “getting ready.” As we symbolically get ready to celebrate (remember) his First Advent, we really are preparing ourselves for his Second Advent (Second Coming). When the bridegroom comes, will we be ready to meet him? What does that readiness involve? That is what we will look at in next week’s devotions. The hymn by Isaac Watts says, “Let every heart prepare him room.” Do we ever think about what that means? Pray together and ask God to prepare your hearts for the Lord’s Day tomorrow. Make yourself ready for gathered worship–not just physically, but spiritually. Be ready to greet the Lord tomorrow morning with Christ’s Body, the Church. Ask God to put you in the proper frame of mind to sing God’s praises joyfully, to listen to God’s Word, and to respond to it willingly.

The Promise of Heaven

Read: Revelation 21.1-4; 22.1-5

The New Heaven and Earth
1. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4. and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

* * * * *

The River and the Tree of Life
1. Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2. in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4. they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

The glories of eternity are so far beyond anything we can imagine that the Bible can only give us glimpses of it, and even then those images are hard for us to grasp. But although we cannot exactly tell what eternity will be, we are told very clearly what will not be there: no crying, no pain, no mourning, no death, no night, And we will be with Christ forever and ever! What a great promise. God, through Christ, has made us his people and has promised us eternal life of perfect joy with him. Heaven is real.

Thank God for this great promise today.

The Promise of Judgement

Read: Matthew 25.31-40

The Judgment
31. “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33. and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

34. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36. naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37. Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38. And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39. When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40. The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

Today’s Scripture reminds us that Jesus is more than just the little baby in the manger we see at Christmas. He is God, the judge of all people: the living and the dead, the righteous and the unrighteous. And he is a holy and just judge, whose eyes are too holy even to look upon sin. Our only hope when we stand before this judge is to trust in his perfect righteousness, not our own. The glory of the Gospel is that he credits that perfect righteousness to those who believe in him! When we face the Judge, our plea will be “not guilty” because of the righteousness of Christ.

The Promise of the ‘Second Resurrection’

Read: John 5.26-29

26. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27. and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29. and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

As real as our “First Resurrection” in Christ is (spiritual rebirth), the Bible also promises us another glorious resurrection. This one will occur when Christ returns. It is sometimes called the “General Resurrection” because Christ tells us that everyone who has ever lived will be raised up at once: both believers and unbelievers. So, in Christ, not only will we never die spiritually, but our bodies themselves will one day be brought up from their resting place and be made perfect, just as Christ’s physical body is perfect right now. This “Second Resurrection” is the one which we confess every week in the Creed: “I believe in . . . the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

Christ has the victory over death! Thank him today for the promise of the “Second Resurrection”.

not the best view for starting the day.

We spent an hour and a half at the doctor’s office. I got home to find my sweet sweet Windy cat had a large gash in her foot and she was hiding in my office. So back out the door I went with my kitty to the vet clinic. UGH! She was such a good kitty for them. I have always said she is the sweetest thing and she proved it today. THe doc cut off the excess skin (hey! at least I’m not posting pics of it) and said she was keeping it good and clean and he’d rather let her take care of it. So a couple of shots and one hour and forty-five minutes later I was back in the car.

I decided on the way home I would run in to the pharmacy to pick up Lottie’s medicine. I have never seen them so busy. There are a lot of people in my town sick today. Forty minutes later I had her medicine. NINETY-FIVE DOLLARS AND FIFTY-FIVE CENTS FOR A TINY BOTTLE OF EYE DROPS!!! I am so glad we have insurance now; my out of pocket was only $27.40. But still, those are expensive drops!

Since the sky is falling down on our town today I guess the outside work can get moved off the list. Maybe a batch of cookies is in order.

The Promise of the ‘First Resurrection’

Read: John 5.24-26; Revelation 20.6

John 5
24. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Two Resurrections
25. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;

Revelation 20
6. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

The Apostle John tells us in these verses of the “First Resurrection”, and this resurrection is not one we have to wait for: it is ours right now if we belong to Christ. The “First Resurrection” is the miracle of regeneration or being born anew in Jesus Christ. When we come to Christ in faith, he tells us we have “passed from death into life.” We have been resurrected. In Christ we have new life right now.

If you have been born anew, then praise God together in your prayer for the “First Resurrection”.