Advent: God's Pursuing Love Guides Us Home

Devotional

Day 1: Advent: Love That Moves First Toward You

We are used to love that is convenient, conditional, and centered on self. Advent interrupts that story by announcing that Love moved first toward you—God did not wait for you to get it right before He drew near. Like a star over a winter sky, His pursuit lit your darkness and invited you to come and see Jesus. You do not have to climb your way to Him; He has already knelt into your humanity with a self-giving, agape love. Today, receive the God who comes close before you even knew to look for Him [27:14]

1 John 4:10 — Here is real love: not that we reached for God, but that He loved us first and sent His Son to deal fully with our sins.

Reflection: Where do you assume God withdraws from you when you fail, and what small step of trust could you take today to welcome His pursuing love in that exact place?

Day 2: Guided by God’s Whispering Light and Pace

God’s love does more than find you; it gently leads you. Just as the star did not merely point in a vague direction but carried the wise men to Jesus, the Spirit longs to guide your steps. The trouble is not His silence but our speed—noise, hurry, and crowded calendars drown out His whisper. Choose a slower pace on purpose: walk without earbuds, take the long line, drive the limit, and let your heart grow quiet. In the quiet, you will notice the nudges that lead you straight to Christ with exceeding joy [34:29]

Matthew 2:9–10 — After hearing the king, they set out, and the same star moved ahead of them until it stood over the place of the child; seeing that guiding light, they burst with great joy.

Reflection: What is one specific daily practice you will adopt this week to slow your pace enough to hear God’s whisper, and when will you do it?

Day 3: Border-Crossing Love for the Whole World

The birth of Jesus reveals a border‑crossing love. Foreign seekers were among the first to bow, showing that heaven’s light reaches beyond geography, culture, status, and story. God overcame the greatest distance to come to you, and His love keeps moving outward through you. Following Him means crossing your own borders—of comfort, convenience, and bias—to carry light into someone else’s night. Let His boundary-breaking heart send you toward the person you might otherwise avoid [32:26]

John 3:16 — God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who entrusts themselves to Him will not be lost but will share in God’s unending life.

Reflection: Who is one person outside your usual circle—across a cultural, relational, or comfort border—you sense God nudging you toward, and what small act of kindness will you offer this week?

Day 4: Worship that Reorients: Serve, Sing, Submit, Give

Encountering Jesus naturally overflows in worship. The wise men first bowed low, then opened their treasures; worship is not a mood but a surrendered life. You worship as you serve, sing, and submit—and generosity is part of that surrender, not a transaction. Because hearts follow resources, ordering your finances around God trains your love, births contentment, and funds kingdom good. Ask Him to reorient your habits so that your giving, like your singing and serving, becomes joyful worship that costs something [45:53]

Matthew 2:11 — Entering the house, they saw the child with His mother; falling to the floor in reverence, they opened their treasure chests and presented valuable gifts.

Reflection: What concrete financial step—building a simple budget, beginning percentage giving, or reprioritizing an expense—will help align your heart and resources with God’s purposes this month?

Day 5: Changed Direction by Jesus’s Grace and Truth

No one meets Jesus and goes home the same way. Like the wise men, His love reroutes your path—away from self and toward a new way marked by grace and truth. Grace says, “Neither do I condemn you,” and truth says, “Now walk a better way,” shaping habits, priorities, and relationships. As you keep in step with Him, your life becomes a light that quietly declares to a dark world that love has come. Today, choose one “another route,” and let His light lead you forward [53:13]

John 8:10–11 — Looking at her, Jesus asked where her accusers were; with none left to condemn, He told her, “I do not condemn you either; now leave this path of sin and live free.”

Reflection: What single habit or relationship is Jesus inviting you to approach differently this week, and what small, specific step will mark that new route today?

Sermon Summary

Love is not a feeling to be traded or a reward to be earned; love moves first. I opened with a story of a teenager on a freezing subway who took off his new Jordans and gave them to a barefoot man—no speech, no selfie, just love in motion. Advent announces that kind of love: not sentimentality, but the God who kneels into our humanity, lights up our darkness, and gives what we could never earn. If we define love as convenience or reciprocity, we will assume God only moves toward us when we deserve it. Advent confronts that lie. God initiates. God pursues. God crosses the ultimate border to find us.

Matthew 2 shows this in the journey of the wise men. Outsiders by ethnicity and religion, they were drawn by a light they didn’t fully understand. That’s how love works. It pursues us, then it guides us, often by a whisper that can only be heard when we slow our pace. The star didn’t point vaguely; it led specifically to Jesus. God still guides through Scripture, the Spirit’s promptings, creation’s wonder, and providential interruptions. But we must resist a frantic life that drowns out His voice.

God’s love also crosses borders—geography, culture, comfort—to embrace people we would never expect. And when this love reaches us, it is meant to move through us. First, it moves us to worship—not just singing, but reorienting our whole life around Jesus. We worship by serving, singing, and submitting—costly practices that dethrone our ego and enthrone Christ. Second, it moves us to generosity. The wise men “opened their treasures” because love gives. Our treasure directs our heart, so contentment, budgeting, and firstfruits giving are not financial hacks; they are spiritual formation. Finally, love moves us to change direction. No one meets Jesus and goes home the same way. Grace tells us, “Neither do I condemn you.” Truth says, “Go and sin no more.” That pairing doesn’t crush us; it frees us into a new way.

Every December we hang lights, not just for decoration but as a declaration: the Light has come, and darkness cannot overcome Him. The same God who placed a star for the wise men still leads us home. And when we follow Him, we become lights that point others to Jesus.

Key Takeaways

1. Love moves first, not second. Real love initiates; it doesn’t wait for worthiness or convenience. Advent reveals a God who lights the sky before anyone knows to look, who kneels before we ask for help, who pursues before we can return. When you feel unworthy or distant, remember that the first step has already been taken toward you. [29:56]
2. Slow your pace to hear God. Guidance is not scarce; attention is. God often speaks at whisper-volume—through Scripture, the Spirit, creation, and holy interruptions—but a hurried life can’t notice subtle light. Practice embodied slowness—drive the speed limit, take the long line, walk without headphones—to become the kind of person who can receive direction. [34:29]
3. Worship is serving, singing, submitting. Worship is not a mood or a setlist; it’s a reorientation of the whole self. Serving breaks our comfort addiction, singing declares truth to our fears, and submitting aligns us with God’s Word when it contradicts our preferences. If it never costs us, it probably isn’t worship. [41:13]
4. Generosity is love’s natural overflow. The wise men opened their treasures because their hearts were already bowed. Our money follows our love, and then our heart follows our money; this feedback loop can disciple us into either greed or freedom. Contentment, budgeting, and firstfruits giving train our desires to trust God, not the next shiny thing. [44:02]
5. Encountering Jesus changes our direction. Transformation is deeper than behavior tweaks; it’s a new path. Jesus meets us with grace—no stones—and then calls us into truth—a new way to walk. If your loves are turning outward and your steps are shifting, that’s the sign of love on the move within you. [51:51]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[25:31] - Rethinking love’s conditions
[27:14] - Star and the seeking wise men
[29:56] - Love pursues before we do
[32:26] - Agape: God moves first
[34:29] - Learning to slow our pace
[37:15] - Ways God guides us
[38:56] - Love moves us to worship
[41:13] - Serving, singing, submitting
[44:02] - Giving as worship, not transaction
[45:53] - Contentment, budgeting, firstfruits
[48:15] - New direction after encountering Jesus
[51:51] - Grace and truth in action
[53:13] - Christmas lights as declaration
[56:06] - Invitation to respond

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
- Matthew 2:1-12

Observation questions (3–4)

Read Matthew 2:1-12. What details about the wise men’s identity, distance, and their response stand out to you? How do those details shape your picture of who God reaches out to? [27:14]
The story of the teenager who gave his shoes on the subway highlights a different definition of love than culture often gives. What small details in that story make the act feel like “love in motion” rather than sentiment or show? [25:31]
In Matthew 2 the star “went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.” What language in the passage shows the star was guiding specifically (not vaguely)? What does that suggest about how God guides? [29:56]
Verse 11 shows worship before giving. The sermon named three practical ways worship shows up: serving, singing, submitting. Which of those three is most obvious in the passage and why? [38:56]

Interpretation questions (3–4) — third person, objective

The Greek word agape is used to describe God’s love as self‑giving and active. What does agape imply about who must begin the reconciliation between God and people, and how does that reshape expectations about earning God’s favor? [32:26]
The image of a whisper and of moving too fast was used to explain why people miss God’s guidance. How does the “whisper” metaphor clarify the difference between noisy guidance and God’s leading, and what does it imply about the kinds of habits needed to hear him? [34:29]
The wise men worshiped first and then “opened their treasures.” Why might worship precede generous giving in the biblical ordering, and what does that ordering reveal about the relationship between heart orientation and money? [44:02]
The exchange “Neither do I condemn you…go and sin no more” combines grace and truth. How do those two elements work together to produce lasting change rather than shame or license? [51:51]

Application questions (4–7)

God’s love initiates and pursues before people are worthy or ready. When you consider “God moved first toward me,” what specific memory or evidence of that can you name from your life this week? How does naming it change the way you relate to God today? [29:56]
Guidance often comes at whisper volume. Which simple “slowness” practice will you try this week (drive the speed limit, take the long checkout line, a 20‑minute walk with no audio, stop at every stop sign)? When will you do it and how will you notice if it helps you hear God more? [34:29]
Worship is reorientation expressed in serving, singing, and submitting. Which of these three S’s is least present in your life right now? What concrete first step will you take this month to grow in that area (sign up to serve, join a worship prayer time, pick one Bible passage to submit to)? [41:13]
Giving flows out of worship and reveals the heart. Do you have a written plan or budget for your money? If not, what is one practical next step to gain control (download a budgeting tool, meet with a trusted friend, set a simple first‑fruit percentage)? If yes, what tweak would make your giving more sacrificial and trustful? [45:53]
Percentage or first‑fruits giving was presented as a spiritual discipline that trains trust. What percentage or first‑fruit change could you realistically try for the next three months to practice trusting God with your finances? How will you measure whether it’s shaping your heart? [44:02]
An encounter with Jesus changes direction — people “went home by another way.” Name one habit, relationship, or priority in your life that needs a new route because of Jesus. What is the very next concrete action you will take this week to begin that new route? [48:15]

Use these questions to guide honest sharing, listen for how God is already at work in one another’s stories, and pray together as the group discerns practical next steps.

Sermon Clips

Advent declares the opposite. It's the announcement that love himself moved first. Advent is God saying, you don't have to climb your way to me. I'm coming to you. I'm going to light up your darkness. I'm pursuing you before you even know me. Just like the teenage boy who knelt down and gave his shoes away in the subway, God steps into our world. He kneels into our humanity, and he gives us what we can never get for ourselves. It was love in motion. [00:26:39] (29 seconds) #LoveMovedFirst

Advent isn't just a countdown to Christmas. It's a reminder that God moves towards us before we looked for him, before we knew we needed him, before we could earn it. That love came looking. Love moved. And in Matthew chapter 2, we have the story of the wise men traveling to Jesus. And their journey is this beautiful picture of how God's love reaches and draws people to Christ. And if God's love pursues us like that, then encountering Jesus should reshape how we love others as well. [00:27:23] (31 seconds) #LoveThatDraws

Number one, God's love pursues us. It sounds simple. God's love moves to us. God's love pursues, but we got to start there. We got to start with the simple here that the wise men saw the star, right? In verse two, they saw the star. They didn't accidentally bump into Jesus. They responded because God had already initiated the pursuit. They didn't even know the full story. They didn't have the right background. They weren't raised with the right theology or they would have already known the prophecies, but God still lit up the sky for them. [00:30:31] (32 seconds) #GodPursuesYou

And the voice of God is often a whisper. We just did a whole series on this pretty recently. The thing about a whisper is you have to be close and you have to be quietin order to hear it. And that's how God speaks. He wants us close to him. God is speaking to us. He's trying to guide us. He's like a loving father trying to communicate to his overly busy children. [00:37:04] (23 seconds) #GodSpeaksSoftly

Number three, God's love crosses borders for us. There was geographic, cultural, religious, social, and comfort borders that had to be crossed for the wise men. And they crossed them all to get to Jesus. But before they ever moved, God crossed the biggest, the ultimate border to get to us. The birth of Jesus showsthat God's love is boundary breaking. It is heaven invading earth. And Jesus didn't come for just one group of people, for one type of person. He came for the world, the world. [00:38:09] (40 seconds) #LoveCrossesBorders

And some of the first people outside of Mary and Joseph to worship him were foreigners to who at the time were God's people. Because God's love always moves outward. It crosses borders for you. And then what? That same border crossing love is meant to flow out of you. It comes to you and it goes out of you, just like a stream. [00:38:49] (21 seconds) #LoveFlowsOut

We worship through singing. We worship through serving. We also worship through submitting. Bowing our hearts and our lives to Jesus as Lord and as King. Submitting to what His Word says about everything. It's how we align our life with His Word. Serving. Singing. Submitting. All three of those go hand in hand. They all go hand in hand. They kill our pride and they move us to worship because they take us out of our comfort zone. I think about this often. The minute that I say, I can't serve. It's just notvery convenient. What is that? Since when was serving supposed to be convenient? [00:42:03] (46 seconds) #ServeSingSubmit

Man, it got quiet in here all of a sudden. I ask myself these things. When was that the call? Oh, I want you to be nice and comfortable and convenient as you serve others. No, no, no, no, no, no. If it doesn't cost me anything, why am I doing it? I need to serve. I need to worship. I need to put God in this place. Worship should cost me something. [00:42:50] (27 seconds) #WorshipCostsSomething

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Advent: God's Pursuing Love Guides Us Home

Devotional

Day 1: Advent: Love That Moves First Toward You

Day 2: Guided by God’s Whispering Light and Pace

Day 3: Border-Crossing Love for the Whole World

Day 4: Worship that Reorients: Serve, Sing, Submit, Give

Day 5: Changed Direction by Jesus’s Grace and Truth

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Chatbot

Advent: God's Pursuing Love Guides Us Home

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