Join us for a six-week Bible Reading Plan through a portion of Revelation that leads us from warning to worship, from false security to lasting hope, and from distraction to devotion. As we seek God’s presence, His Word will guide us in responding authentically as we are continually sculpted into a deeply faithful and remarkably healthy church for God’s glory. Click here to get started.

ADVENT | CHRISTMAS EVE: CHRIST

Click here to watch the Advent Christmas Eve video.

Scripture Focus:

Luke 2:28–33 (Simeon’s Praise)

Devotion Recap:

• Simeon waited faithfully for the Messiah. He did not know when God’s promise would come, but he trusted God completely to fulfill His promise.
• When Simeon held Jesus, he knew immediately: This is the promised Savior.
• Simeon essentially said, “Now I’m ready because You have given the greatest gift of all.”
• Real hope, peace, joy, and love are not found in gifts, plans, or perfect moments. They are found in Christ alone, our perfect substitute and Savior.
• Christmas Eve reminds us that all our waiting, and all of history’s waiting, leads to Jesus.
• Praise God for keeping His promises, for being the source of all hope, peace, joy, and love. Ask Him to grow in you a heart that is willing to trust and follow Him in all things.

Conversation Starters

Use these questions to help your family reflect on Christ:

1. What do you look forward to on Christmas Eve?
   Why are these moments meaningful?
2. What Christmas Eve traditions does our family have?
   What do you enjoy most about them?
3. Why do you think this night feels special—even different—from other nights?
4. What were God’s people waiting for?
   How is that like our own waiting today?
5. How do our Christmas Eve traditions point us to Jesus? What is something we could do on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day as a family to focus our attention even more on Christ?

Family Christmas Activities

Each activity connects your family to the theme of Christ as our only source of true hope, peace, joy, love and light.

Choose one or try all three throughout the week. 

1. Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Have a birthday party for Jesus! Make a birthday cake, decorate, create a card or sign. As you spend time preparing this party, talk about what it means for hope to be found in Christ alone. Light a candle in the birthday cake and sing “Happy Birthday”, giving thanks that Jesus came to be the light of the world!  

2. Favorite Ornament

Have each person choose an ornament on your family tree and explain why it is unique and special to them. Enjoy a time of remembering and conversation. Connect this back to the truth that we are each intentionally designed by God for a purpose. Because Jesus came as our Rescuer, we can be a light in the darkness, pointing others to his hope, peace, joy, and love.

3. Gift to Jesus

What will you give God this year? Each person writes one thing they want to give Jesus this year (i.e. gratitude, obedience, trust, worship, time in His Word, etc.) Place the cards under the tree or in a special box that you can wrap and place under the tree. This can be kept personal or shared together with family.

Worship: 

Listen to these Christmas Carols and Worship Songs to go along with this week’s Advent Devotion: 

• “Silent Night”
• “O Holy Night”
• “Light of the World (Sing Hallelujah)” by We the Kingdom
• “Light of the World” by Lauren Daigle
• “In Christ Alone” by Shane & Shane
• “Christ Be Magnified” by Cody Carnes

ADVENT WEEK FOUR: LOVE

Click here to watch the Advent Week 4 video.

Scripture Focus:

1 Corinthians 13:4–13
John 3:16-17

Devotion Recap:

• The Bible has a lot to say about love. Paul gives us a beautiful description of what love looks like in real life in 1 Corinthians 13.
• Faith, hope, and love remain—but the greatest of these is love.
• John 3:16 is the Christmas verse we often forget! It reveals the very heart of God.
• Jesus came, took on flesh, and lived among us because God loves us deeply, eternally, sacrificially.
• Christmas is all because God loves you.
• Love isn’t based on feelings, it is rooted in God’s unchanging truth and character.
• May we echo Evy’s sentiment in all we think, say, and do this Christmas season: “God, You love us and we love you back.”

Conversation Starters

Use these questions to help your family reflect on the true meaning of God's love:

1. When you think about people who have loved you well, who do you think of?
2. What is love?
   How have you seen real love shown in words or actions?
3. How do you know God loves you?
4. Why is Christmas the perfect expression of God’s love?
5. How can our family show love to each other in our home this week? How can our family show love to others outside of our home this week?

Family Christmas Activities

Each activity connects your family to the theme of LOVE.

Choose one or try all three throughout the week. 

1. Heart Ornament Craft

Create simple paper hearts with John 3:16 written inside.
Hang them on the tree as reminders of God’s love given through Christ.

2. Family Love Letters

Write short notes to each family member naming one thing you love about them.
Read them together at dinner or bedtime.

3. Christmas Card Craft

Choose one person to send a special Christmas Card. Create it from scratch or purchase a premade card, but be intentional with the message. Remind them that they are loved and be specific in telling them what you love and appreciate about them. Don’t have time to create a card? Send a text or email that reminds them they are loved! 

Worship: 

Listen to these Christmas Carols and Worship Songs to go along with this week’s Advent Devotion: 

• “O Come All Ye Faithful” 
• “Behold” by Phil Wickham
• “Adore” by Chris Tomlin
• “I Love You Lord (To My King)” by Gatherhouse Music
• “God So Loved” by We the Kingdom
• “His Mercy is More” by Matt Boswell/Matt Papa

ADVENT WEEK THREE: JOY

Click here to watch the Advent Week 3 video.

Scripture Focus:

Luke 2:1–10

Devotion Recap:

• The angel’s announcement ends with: “Good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
• Christmas is overflowing with joy—joy in traditions, family time, giving, receiving, laughing, gathering.
• But the greatest joy of Christmas is that Christ has come.
• “Joy to the World” was not originally written as a Christmas song but as a poem about Jesus’ second coming!
• We celebrate both comings:
  • He came once—just as God promised.
  • He will come again—just as He promised.
• Joy is not the absence of sorrow; it is the presence of Christ.

Conversation Starters

Use these questions to help your family reflect on the true meaning of joy in Christ:

1. What gives you joy?
   What makes you smile or laugh?
2. Is joy the same as happiness?
   How would you describe the difference?
3. What brings you joy at Christmas time?
   Gifts? Family? Traditions?
4. How does the Christmas story bring joy to your heart?
5. Can you have joy even when something difficult is happening?
   Why or why not?

Family Christmas Activities

Each activity connects your family to the theme of JOY.

Choose one or try all three throughout the week. 

1. Joy Jar

Begin a joy jar or journal to keep during the Christmas

season. When you struggle to celebrate or feel gratitude, it helps

to write down things to thank God for. Each day, write down

something that you are thankful for and/or that brings you joy.

If younger family members can’t write yet, have a parent write

it or have younger children draw what they are thankful for or that brings them joy. Place them in the jar and then take one out to read and talk about with family and friends each day at meal times, riding in the car together, or on your group text thread.

2. Joyful Acts of Service

Choose one simple way to bring joy to someone else by doing a chore for them without being asked, or a small act of kindness/service for them. Other ideas may be paying for the car behind you in the drive through line, taking the neighbors trash, delivering a meal/gift to a shut in.

3. Spread the Joy

Bring joy to someone through song! Make a quick, fun video of you and/or your family and friends singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” (or any Christmas song!) and send it to someone that needs to be reminded of joy in a difficult season. Be as silly, creative, and fun as you want! Let them see your Christmas JOY! 

Worship: 

Listen to these Christmas Carols and Worship Songs to go along with this week’s Advent Devotion: 

• “Joy to the World (Joyful, Joyful)” by Phil Wickham
• “Joy to the World (Unspeakable Joy)” by Chris Tomlin
• “Sounding Joy” by Ellie Holcomb
• “House of the Lord” by Phil Wickham
• “Rejoice” by Charity Gayle
• “Praise to the Lord” by Shane & Shane/Worship Initiative

ADVENT WEEK TWO: PEACE

Click here to watch the Advent Week 2 video.

Scripture Focus:

Luke 1:46–55 (Mary’s Song of Praise | The Magnificat)
Isaiah 9:6

Devotion Recap:

• God sent His Son into the world through Mary, a humble, ordinary girl, and she responded with worship and peace, not fear.
• Mary’s peace flowed into praise. She celebrated all God had done, even though her situation was not easy.
• Real peace doesn’t mean God removes every struggle.
• Peace is the presence of the One who is trustworthy in every situation.
• Christmas brought us peace because peace is a person: Jesus Himself.

Conversation Starters

Use these questions to help your family reflect on the true meaning of God’s peace:

1. What does “peace” mean to you?
   Is it quiet or calm? Is peace something you experience on the inside? the outside? Both? Discuss.
2. When you think about peace in your own life, what comes to mind?
   Are there places or times when you feel more unsettled or worried?
3. Do you think peace means the absence of problems?
   Why or why not?
4. How did Mary experience peace in the Christmas story?
   What did she do when she felt that peace? (she praised God/worshiped). What can we learn from Mary’s response?
5. How does Jesus bring peace to your life? (See Ephesians 2:13-17). How can you daily remind yourself of the peace that passes all  understanding? (See Philippians 4:4-9)

Family Christmas Activities

Each activity connects your family to the theme of PEACE.

Choose one or try all three throughout the week. 

1. Peace Prayer Walk

Take a prayer walk around your neighborhood or a prayer drive with family or friends around your city this Christmas season. Pray for the people who do not yet know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Pray that they would come to know the peace that only Christ can bring. Ask God to give you opportunities to share his hope and peace with others. 

2. Create notecards of hope and peace

If there are certain times and places where fear, loneliness, or anxiety creep in, put HOPE & PEACE in those places! Write on a note card, post-it note, or piece of paper a truth from God’s Word that reminds you of the hope and peace that only He can bring. Place it in your room, on your bathroom mirror, in your car, in your locker, on your work desk, etc. You may even want to make a project out of it, taking time to creatively decorate the card(s) with markers, stickers, etc. 

If you have younger children, write the scripture for them and have them decorate it. Read it to them often. 

You might also choose to go digital with this activity! Make a screen saver or lock screen for your device that reminds you of your hope and peace is found in Christ alone!

3. Praise Playlist

Make a short family playlist of songs that inspire you to worship God and give Him praise! Talk about how Mary’s peace overflowed into praise. As we worship God, we are reminded that He is near and He alone is our source of peace. Be intentional to use this playlist throughout the Christmas season to set the atmosphere of your home to be one of peace and praise.

Worship: 

Listen to these Christmas Carols and Worship Songs to go along with this week’s Advent Devotion: 

• “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” by Casting Crowns
• “O Come All Ye Faithful (His Name Shall Be)” by Passion
• “It is Well” by Anthem Lights
• “Psalm 34” by Shane & Shane
• “Tremble” by Mosaic

Living Between Christ’s First Coming and His Return

Advent is a four-week season in the Church calendar dedicated to anticipating the arrival, or “advent,” of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah and King (Isaiah 9:6). Christians from many backgrounds celebrate this time with reflections on hope, peace, joy, and love (Romans 15:13). It is celebrated differently within various traditions, but all center around God sending His one and only Son, Jesus, to earth to dwell among us and the promise that He will return again (John 1:14; Acts 1:11).

At its core, Advent is about waiting. Scripture reminds us that God’s people have always been a waiting people, longing for the fulfillment of His promises (Habakkuk 2:3). For centuries before Christ’s birth, Israel waited for the promised Savior who would rescue them from sin and restore what was broken (Genesis 12:3; Micah 5:2). But their waiting was not aimless. It was anchored in the faithfulness of a God who always keeps His word (Numbers 23:19).

Advent looks backward to celebrate Christ’s first coming. Jesus did not arrive as the world expected. He did not arrive in power or prestige, but in humility, born of a virgin, laid in a manger (Luke 2:6–7). Through Jesus’ birth, God would see His plan come to fruition through Jesus to save humanity from its sin, therefore fulfilling the promise He made from the very beginning (Genesis 3:15; Matthew 1:21). Advent reminds us that the gospel is not a fairy tale or a metaphor, but the true story of God entering the world to redeem it (Galatians 4:4–5).

However, Advent is not only about what has already happened. It is also about what is still to come. We look backward at His birth, and we look forward to His return. As believers, we celebrate Christ’s first coming while longing for His second coming, when He will return in glory to make all things new (Revelation 21:5; Titus 2:13). Just as Israel once waited for the Messiah, we now wait for our King to come again (Philippians 3:20).

During the four weeks of Advent, believers often focus on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love. These are not abstract ideas, but they are realities rooted in the person of Jesus Christ. Our hope is secure because Christ has overcome sin and death (1 Peter 1:3). Our peace is not based on circumstances but on being reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus (Romans 5:1; Colossians 1:20. Our joy flows from knowing that our salvation is secure in Christ (John 15:11). And our love is a reflection of the love God first showed us in sending His Son (1 John 4:9–10).

We are invited into the sacred tension between promise and fulfillment, longing and rejoicing, waiting and worshipping. Advent reminds us that we live between two comings: Christ has come to save, and He will come again to reign (Hebrews 9:28). As we prepare our hearts during this season, we are not simply preparing for a holiday. We are preparing to celebrate the Savior who was born for us and the King who is coming again (Luke 2:11; Revelation 22:20). Hope is born, and our hope is rooted in the One who is still to come.

For more information regarding Christmas, including our Advent Devotionals, click below. 

Christmas at Church at The Mill