Living Hope Church Memphis: Recent Episodes
Greg Gibson
Philippians 1:1–11
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Advent Week 4: He Has Brought Peace Written by Raphael Mnkandhla, Leaders Collective Church Planter City Church, Williamsport, PA Read: Luke 2:8-11, Romans 5:1-11. I love watching battles, especially when enemies negotiate for peace. Did you know that because of sin scripture describes us as enemies of God(Rom 5:10)? Luke 2:8-11 is an announcement of a peace-treaty fully signed by an Almighty King to his undeserving rebel enemies. This news would result in “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace...”(Luke 2:14). Appearing to the shepherds, the angel said, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you a child is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,”(Luke 2:10–11). Jesus’ birth is still good news because Jesus’ justifying work made peace with God(Rom 5:1). Through our Savior Jesus, dead men are made alive, rebels turned into sons, and hearts ruled by fear of judgment rejoice. “Those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death now have available the Prince of Peace to guide their feet into the way of peace,”(Luke 1:79). At Jesus’ birth all creation celebrated, a symphony never heard since man fell into sin(Rom 3:23). Christmas is a season to praise God because in Christ, hearts that were once full of sin are now filled with his glorious Spirit. In Israel, shepherds had a bad reputation; they were rebellious, dishonest, and unreliable. Yet it is to them God chose to announce the good news that the long-awaited Messiah had been born. The proclamation of peace begins with those who least deserve it. Luke saturates his gospel with examples of Jesus extending grace to the undeserving who ran from God through outright rebellion(prostitutes and sinners) and those running through self-righteousness(Pharisees)(See Luke 15).The good news of the gospel is that our Savior King came to seek and save the lost(19:10). He still makes his power known in our churches as we listen to many lives that have been changed by Christ. As you read this take some time to remember people you know who Christ has begun a good work in(Phil 1:6) and praise Him. Let this also move you to pray for those who are far from him, believing that he can save them to the utmost(Heb 7:25). The responses of the shepherds are impressive. First, they dropped everything and went to Bethlehem, to go and see for themselves. They were eager to see what God had done. I pray that we would respond with haste in obedience to his proclamation of the gospel to us. Second, after seeing Jesus, the shepherds couldn’t keep the good news to themselves, “they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child,”(Luke 2:17). The good news of Jesus that brings peace between God and man leads to peace between men. How ironic how the first testimony of the gospel comes from the most untrustworthy lips of shepherds. What a glorious gospel it is that turns liars and cheats into peacemakers(Mat 5:9), their feet once “ran to evil, and made haste to shed blood,”(Prov 1:16). Now they had “put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace,”(Ephesians 6:15). Is the good news of Jesus creating an excitement to watch those around you encounter the grace you have also encountered? Luke 2:20 is also a display of the transformation the gospel brings. “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen..” Lips that used to flow with all kinds of filth now were full of praises to God. An encounter with the good news resulted in witness and worship. It’s striking that we read they “returned” to their daily lives. They returned to the fields and the sheep, to their homes, their wives, and their children. Their home life had not changed, yet beholding Jesus had transformed their hearts. God’s missional strategy is that you live for him in the mundane, that’s where his glory shines brightest.
Prayer: Jesus you are our Prince of Peace. Thank you for reconciling us to God and reconciling us to one another. May you make us instruments of peace to our families, neighbors, and community.
Advent Family Devotion Week 3: Joy in Sorrow
Written by Tim Moroz, Leader’s Collective Church Planter
Providence, RI
Text: Read 1 Peter 4:12-13
When I was sixteen years old my dad went home to be with the Lord. He had late-stage brain cancer and had battled it for over a year and a half before it finally took him. I remember walking into my classroom after his funeral and my classmates, upon seeing a smile on my face, immediately thought that I was going through the stage of grief known as “denial.”
What my friends around me didn’t understand yet was that the reason I was smiling was not because I was in denial, but rather because I had learned that joy is not something that is found in my circumstances. It was deeper than that.
For most of us, the Christmas season is a positive experience full of nostalgia and good feelings that we eagerly look forward to all year. But this isn’t the case for everyone, and for many people this season bitterly reminds them of their brokenness, hurt, loneliness, and all around difficult circumstances. For them, life is hard, and life at Christmas time is even harder.
This is where we find many of God’s people in Luke 2. For over 500 years their lives have been bitter and difficult, their nation in captivity, and their God silent. Into this bleak picture God bursts forth in the most unexpected yet wonderful way, as a helpless baby. One day soon, He would change the world. For now, all they needed to know could be found in Luke 2:10, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.”
their salvation secured, before anything changed. They could find their joy in something that was beyond their circumstances. One author put it this way, “joy is more a state of being than an emotion; [it is] a result of choice.” To take it one step further, the NT teaches us that joy is actually a fruit of the Spirit and should therefore be the natural result of those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22).
Are you one of those people who experiences a great sense of grief or despair during the Christmas season? Do you have unresolved hurt, unmet expectations, or broken relationships? Are you in an impossible situation? Scripture goes so far as to command us to rejoice at all times (Phil 4:4). How in the world are we to do that?
Living a life of joy does not mean that you should put on a fake smile and pretend like everything is great when it’s not. It doesn’t even mean that you are wrong to experience sorrow or feel grief; even Jesus experienced sorrow and grief. A simple look at Scripture will show us that sorrow and joy are not mutually exclusive.
In 1 Peter 4:12-13 we read, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” We see the same theme in Jn. 16:22, Col. 1:24, 2 Cor. 6:10, 1 Pt. 4:13 and throughout many of the Psalms. Sorrow and joy in the same breath.
God’s people are able to rejoice despite their circumstances because their joy is grounded in their God, not in their circumstances. We can experience joy because of the good news: Jesus is here. And He makes all things new in His time.
Prayer: Father, in our hearts we long to be a people that exudes great joy despite our circumstances. We want our joy to be grounded in our relationship with you and yet we confess that this is not always the case for us. We allow the difficulties around us to cause us to take our eyes off of you and turn us instead to despair. Remind us, O Lord, that in You we can find the fullness of joy. Teach us to find our joy in the unchanging goodness of your nature. Teach us to choose joy despite our lot.
Advent Week 2: Hesed for the Holidays
Written by Rayshawn Graves, Leader’s Collective Church Planter
Richmond, Virginia
Read : Psalm 13; Ephesians 3:17-19
Have you ever experienced the holiday blues? As much as they sound like a musical genre, the holiday blues are actually a form of depression that occur during the holiday season when everyone is celebrating and joyful. Television commercials would have us believe that certain gadgets and toys bring a kind of magical all-satisfying happiness and relational bliss is offered through the consumption of holiday-themed caffeinated drinks. In reality, for many people the holidays bring with them feelings of loss, loneliness, and rejection.
David probably doesn’t have the holiday blues in Psalm 13, but he certainly knows what it’s like to feel both unloved and forgotten by God. He says in Psalm 13:1 “How long, O’ Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” Like David, when we experience guilt, shame, and loneliness, it’s easy to grow impatient and even give into the temptation to find love and fulfillment elsewhere, especially during the holiday season when the cries from advertisements are all offering love and fulfillment through their products. And so often that’s where our pursuit to feel loved begins only to be short-lived when the things of this world fail to provide the acceptance and comfort we desire.
Although we may not know what David’s particular circumstance is or if it is even resolved by the end of the Psalm, what is clear is that David’s disposition towards God changes in the moment when he reflects on the steadfast love of God. It is the steadfast love of God, or more literally the hesed (covenant-keeping loving-kindness) that causes him to rejoice in the midst of pain, loneliness, and despair and brings him into realization that complete acceptance and fulfillment is found in God. In spite of the present, this love that David rejoices in finds its roots in all the previous ways God has been there for his people. David looks to the goodness of God in past salvation as the source of his joy and singing in the present seasons of regret, guilt, and shame.
As God’s people we share in this same hope of the steadfast love of God. Much like David, we look back to the supreme demonstration of love that has been displayed in our salvation through Jesus’ coming into this world and through His perfect work on the cross, and this is what assures us of our acceptance and joy before God in the present. In salvation, we see that God’s love towards us is free and spontaneous even while we were undeserving of it because of our sin. God’s love towards us is not abstract, but actual; it is both personal and real. Most importantly, for all who trust in the sacrifice of Jesus, God’s love is steadfast, unwavering, and unchanging. Because Jesus was forsaken by God on the cross, we can know with absolute certainty, even in the seasons of holiday blues, that God has not forsaken us, but that His steadfast love is always with us.
Prayer: Father, during this holiday season, may we experience your steadfast love for us in the gospel. May we, as Paul prayed in Ephesians, be so rooted and grounded in your love, that we have the strength to comprehend the boundless and inexhaustible love of Christ for us. Lord, when loneliness is near and when we feel forgotten and unloved, may we be reminded that because Jesus bore the abandonment and punishment from God that we deserved, we can be assured that you will never leave us or forsake us. In you we find fullness and satisfaction.
Advent Week 1: The Audacity of Hope Written by Nick Braunschneider, Leader’s Collective Church Planter, Bethesda Church, Orlando FL Read Romans 4:18-22
My family has a saying in our home that we repeat to one another almost daily: “I just never lost hope!” We will say it to each other when one of us overcomes a particular difficulty, like learning to ride a bike, shooting a basketball and hearing the ball “swish” through the net for the first time, or completing a tedious school project. We repeat it when we team up to accomplish small victories, like the afternoon last year when I ascended our rickety metal ladder with a 7-foot Christmas tree storage box resting precariously on my shoulder, straining to squeeze it through the too-small opening to our attic.
“I never lost hope” has become our family motto. Most of the time it is meant to be playful, shouted after I successfully level a freshly hung picture on the wall, or when my wife stretches on her tippy-toes to secure our tree topper. But the message communicated in our simple saying is important. I want my kids to grow into men and women who never give up, people who never lose hope. I want to be this kind of person; I want it for my wife as well.
The Apostle Paul tells us when God’s word of promise was given to Abraham —’Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed’ (Genesis 28:14)— Abraham held onto it, and “In hope, he believed against hope…” (Romans 4:18a). If I am honest, I am not all that acquainted with this kind of hope.
Mine is of the more fragile sort, often ruled by my circumstances.I see the uneven legs of the ladder I’m standing on, I feel the sway back and forth as I take the next step up, my back becomes fatigued as the tote pushes down on me, and my mind keeps telling me the rectangular container has no chance of fitting through the square opening in the ceiling.
Circumstances have a powerful way of turning our certainties into uncertainties…and in the process, killing our hope. Almighty God offers you and me something greater, something truer, something that cannot be moved. The kind of hope that He wants to give us is Christian hope — a gift of the Spirit that enables us to look beyond logic, past experiences, and even the very laws of nature, and simply take God at His word. “In hope, [Abraham] believed against hope…”
The divine promise that grounded Abraham’s hope is ultimately rooted in a Person. It did not culminate in the birth of Isaac his son, but in the birth of Jesus the Christ, who is “The embodied Grace of God, our blessed Hope, bringing salvation for all people” (Titus 2:11, 13). This Advent season, Jesus is calling you deeper and higher, into a life of audacious hope in Him.
Prayer: O Lord our God, make us, Your beloved children, who are called by Your name, to be sons and daughters who are marked by an unshakeable hope in You. Give us hope that enables us to trust that every word that proceeds from Your mouth will be accomplished. And may our hope cause us to laugh at the days to come, without fear of the future, rejoicing that with every moment that passes, our final redemption is nearer than when we first believed. Thank You that no one who puts their hope in You will ever be put to shame. For You are gracious, O Lover of souls, and to You we give glory —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— now and forever. Amen.
We're excited about how God is using Living Hope to plant churches in the city and around the globe. Take a look at this video to find out what the next stage of church-planting will look like for our church.
- Peace - Dec. 18 - Psalm 2: King over the nations
“To speak grandly of the example of Jesus’ love, or even of his identification with human suffering, is entirely meaningless unless there is some end in view. We must never lose sight of the fact that that end is our salvation – our pardon, our reconciliation to God, our restoration to a proper relationship with both God and other human beings, and ultimately our transformation when Christ comes again.” – D. A. Carson (1)
The fourth Sunday of Advent is about Peace, and how this comes through Christ’s justice.
The candle lit on this Sunday is sometimes called “the Bethlehem Candle.” Bethlehem was sometimes called “the city of David,” because that is where King David was born. Likewise the prophets said that this was where the Christ child was to be born.
In Psalm 2, we see this Peace at work through the reign of the Lord’s anointed king over all the nations. As Christians living at a future point in time, we know that Jesus Christ was the anointed king of which the psalmists spoke, and his reign will last forever.
With this in mind, the Peace candle is lit to remind us of how God brings everlasting peace to this broken world, even as we look ahead to its full restoration with Christ’s return.
Suggested Prayer: Lord, we celebrate the peace you have given to believers, but we also look forward to the day that this everlasting peace is truly realized throughout the world. We thank you for the gift of peace found in Jesus. We pray that this substantial peace – like the hope, love, and joy – would be felt in our lives, despite what we might be going through and despite the reality of sin. We pray for complete reconciliation in all conflicts that we have a part in, whether we are offended or we are the ones who offend. We pray this in Jesus’ name, and for your glory. Amen.
- Write a “thank you” note to a member of the police, fire department, EMS, or branch of the military. These are people who need a lot of encouragement and do not see a lot of “peace” in their jobs.
- Write down the names of two people you have a conflict with. Maybe they’ve hurt you, or maybe you have hurt them. Consider contacting them to offer or ask for forgiveness and peace.
1 D. A. Carson, How Long O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1990), 192.
“Love brought you from heaven to earth, from earth to the cross, from the cross to the grave. Love caused you to be weary, hungry, tempted, scorned, scourged, buffeted, spat upon, crucified, and pierced. Love led you to bow your head in death ... This love is not intermittent, cold, changeable; it does not cease or abate for all my enmity.” – A Puritan Prayer¹
The second Sunday of Advent is about God’s Love and the comfort it brings.
The candle lit on this Sunday is sometimes called “the Angels’ Candle” because of how the angels sang of God’s perfect love, as expressed through the coming of Christ. God sent his beloved Son into a dark and disappointing world. Christ died for the sins of ungodly and wicked people. As John 3:16 tells us, these are the ultimate expressions of love.
In Psalm 136, we see this Love at work. The constant refrain speaks of God’s steadfast love. Throughout creation, throughout the leading of the people of Israel out of Egypt, throughout the conquering of Canaan, throughout the exciting and terrible times, throughout the relatively peaceful and mundane times, God’s steadfast love remains. It is a constant presence.
Christ embodied this steadfast love by coming to earth, becoming flesh and blood, and dying in our place.
In this same spirit of Love, the Love candle is lit to remind us of how God’s love is found in Jesus.
Suggested Prayer:
Lord, we acknowledge our own unworthiness as we receive the loving sacrifice of Christ. We thank you that you would consider us, as guilty men, women and children, people that can still be redeemed. We thank you for the gift of love found in Jesus. Through the kindness that you have shown to every generation, and through the comforting words of your revelation, you continue to put your Love on display. Please help us to trust in your power to wipe away every tear and offer comfort to all the afflicted. We pray this in Jesus’ name, and for your glory. Amen.
Ideas for Activities:
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As a family, make a list of three or four people (or families) who might easily feel lonely at Christmas time. Consider getting a gift for that person or inviting them over for a meal.
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Consider planning a family trip to a soup kitchen or donating a gift to a charity.
¹ “Love” in The Valley of Vision, ed. Arthur Bennet (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2011), 159.
“Read your Bible – you will find great promises there. Peter describes them as ‘exceeding great and precious promises’ (2 Pet. 1:4), and indeed they are. Go through them, make a list of them, put them down on paper if necessary. And then, armed with these, go to God and plead them.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones²
The first Sunday of Advent is about Hope, and specifically the Hope of Salvation.
The candle lit on this Sunday is sometimes called “the Prophecy Candle” because of how the prophets spoke of the coming of the Christ child, the one who would take away the sins of the world.
In Psalm 90, Moses called out to God to find favor, as one who knew that his life was short. He knew that the creative power, mercy, wrath, and steadfast love of the Lord was far beyond anything he could imagine. He had seen with his own eyes how God was fully capable to bring salvation to the people of Israel and to bless all nations. Looking forward, Moses could also see a future hope that meant salvation not just from the oppression of governments, but salvation from sin and death.
In this same spirit of hope, the Hope Candle is lit to remind us to be alert and to watch for Christ’s return.
Suggested Prayer:
Lord, as we begin this celebration of the Advent season, we thank you for the careful thought and planning that you put into the salvation of your people. We thank you for the gift of hope found in Jesus. Through the reminders of your promises and the words of the prophets, you gave your people hope that salvation would come. This salvation would be from all the evils of this world, and from the punishment our sins deserve. Please help us to continue to trust in your careful planning as we live our lives. We pray this in Jesus’ name, and for your glory. Amen.
Ideas for Activities:
- As a family, make a list of prayers for the coming year. What are some things you’d like to see happen? What are some concerns?
- As a family, name three people who need encouragement this week. What is one thing you can do for each of them to encourage them?
² Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Seeking the Face of God: Nine Reflections on the Psalms (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005), 134.