A Lesson from Kobe Bryant

I don’t know about you, but I was stunned after church this past Sunday when a couple of our teens informed me that Kobe Bryant had just been killed in a helicopter crash. At first, I thought that the boys were pulling my leg. How could it possibly be true? As long-time Lakers fans, my wife Christine and I have spent many hours over the past twenty years watching Kobe score more points than all but three players in NBA history. Kobe was only 41 years old, and he had a wife and four kids who needed him. How could this happen?

Sadly, it could happen because life here on earth is fragile. Helicopters crash. Bullets fly. Cancer strikes. And floodwaters rise. No wonder the Scriptures tell us in Ephesians 5:15-16, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

This is what we are striving to do each and every week at Impact Christian Church. We aren’t promised next year or next month. So, surrounded by 78,000 neighbors within a five-mile radius, we are setting up shop at the Ralph Baker School in Victorville every Sunday morning, making the most of every opportunity to lead people to Jesus Christ.

I was relieved to learn that Kobe Bryant was a faithful church attender. He attended an early morning Catholic mass just minutes before boarding the helicopter in Orange County. Although much Catholic teaching pollutes the pure gospel message communicated in Scripture, I hold on to the hope that Kobe, his daughter, and the other seven passengers on that helicopter were believers and followers of Jesus Christ. If so, they are in Paradise with our awesome God right now. Please join me in praying for Kobe’s wife Vanessa, her remaining three kids, and the tens of millions of people around the world who are grappling with their own mortality.

When a tragedy like this happens, it serves as a wake-up call for all of us. We must make the most of every opportunity to express our love to our spouses, our kids, and our grandkids. We must make the most of every opportunity to point our family, friends, and neighbors to Jesus Christ so that they don’t have to play the guessing game—wondering whether or not they will make it to heaven after they die. And we as a church family must continue making the most of every opportunity to roll up our sleeves and do what God has called us to do: To love others, learn God’s word, and serve Him until every last person is reached with the life-saving message of Jesus Christ.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us for our worship service Sundays at 10 a.m. at the new Dr. Ralph Baker School in Victorville. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Human Life Is Sacred

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." - Jeremiah 1:5

Last Tuesday marked the 46th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize abortion in the United States. In their landmark Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment protects a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy. Interestingly, the 14th Amendment was intended to protect an individual’s rights while providing him/her with equal protection under the law. Evidently, the Supreme Court justices didn’t believe these protected individual rights extend to the unborn child. As a result, over 60 million pre-born babies have been aborted in the U.S. since 1973. That’s roughly equal to the entire populations of California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and New Mexico combined!

With this sobering reality in mind, Christian leader Dr. Frank Wright wrote, “Will a differently constituted U.S. Supreme Court make a difference in the defense of life? It could, but we have heard those promises before. Besides, a question more important than whether the courts will defend life is: Why is the culture running headlong after death?” Now, that’s a sobering question. Why is our culture running headlong after death?

Honestly, one of the main reasons is because we as a nation no longer read, understand, or embrace what God’s word says about the great value of human life. We have failed to embrace what God says in the very first chapter of the Bible—Genesis 1. He makes it clear that all life on earth is good and beautiful. But only human life is sacred, which is defined as “connected to God and dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration.” Every human life is connected to God in a way that a dog or cat couldn’t be. Every human life is dedicated to a religious purpose—to worship Him and love Him in a way that a rhino, monkey, or polar bear never could. As a nation, we have rejected these timeless truths.

And we have ignored and rejected the timeless truth of Psalm 139:13-15, where King David answers the “when” question: “When does God create human life as good, beautiful and sacred?” David answers—in a mother’s womb. David expresses amazement at the thought of God creating his kidneys, lungs, and heart before he drew his first breath. Without a doubt, human life begins in the womb. Therefore, the life of the unborn child is good, beautiful and sacred in the sight of God. From God’s perspective, a fetus is not a clump of cells, a mass of tissue, or an inconvenience. What the medical community labels a “fetus” is a child, created with great love and care by our Creator. As a nation, we have rejected this timeless truth.

The truth is: There are only four differences between an unborn child and a toddler, and none of these differences taken individually or together diminish the value and “humanity” of the unborn child. See for yourself. [These four differences form the acronym, SLED.]

SIZE. For years pro choice groups like Planned Parenthood have argued that a human fetus is not a human being because of its tiny size. But since when does human size equate to human value? Would anyone make the case that a 7-foot-tall NBA center’s life is 3 ½ times more valuable than a 2-foot-tall toddler’s life? Would anyone try to convince us that a teenager is twice as human as a two-year old because the teenager is twice as tall? No way! The size argument is completely illogical. Size has nothing to do with human value.

LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT. Abortion clinics have peddled the lie that because a child in utero is less developed than a baby, it’s not a human being. Because the heart isn’t beating until the second month and the pain receptors aren’t functional until the second trimester, it’s not a baby. But since when does level of development determine human value? Toddlers are less developed than teenagers. Teenagers are less developed than adults. Many adults have diabetes or other diseases that keep them from feeling pain, and some severely disabled adults aren’t self-aware. Would any reasonable person conclude that children and adults with developmental disabilities are less human than those who are perfectly healthy? I think not!

ENVIRONMENT and DEGREE OF DEPENDENCY. These last two differences between an unborn child and a toddler are equally important. Abortion advocates make the case that because a human fetus is inside his/her mother and is completely dependent upon her for survival, the fetus is not a human being. But under close scrutiny, both of these arguments fall apart. When toddlers change environments, do they change their value? Is a toddler in the house more human that a toddler in a swimming pool?  As for degree of dependency—Is a retiree on dialysis and oxygen less human than a senior with a clean bill of health? Hardly! You see, dependency is irrelevant to value. In fact, a greater level of dependency signals us as compassionate human beings to help and fight for the one who is dependent. Right?

Perhaps we will never fully understand why our culture has been running headlong after death. But of this we can be sure: God holds all human life—from the earliest stages in the womb to the final day of hospice care—as good, beautiful, and sacred. Therefore, we as His followers must also hold all human life to be good, beautiful and sacred. As God loves and defends human life, so too must we.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship tomorrow at 10 am.

Shed Those Grave Threads!

“You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” – Colossians 3:9-10

When Lazarus walked out of the tomb after being dead for four days, he looked like a mummy all wrapped up in his grave clothes. They were probably dirty and, to put it delicately, must have stunk to high heaven. So, what was the first thing Jesus told Lazarus’s family to do? “Take off the grave clothes, and let him go.” Since Lazarus was no longer dead, he no longer needed his dirty, smelly mummy outfit. He was ready for some fresh, new threads.

The same goes for you and me with our old sinful nature. When we come to Christ, we step out of the tomb and leave our old sins behind: the sexual immorality, impurity, lust, greed, coveting, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language and lies (Colossians 3:5-9). Those are nasty grave clothes that do nothing but shame our Lord and drag us down. As followers of Jesus who have been spiritually raised from the dead, we have no business clinging to our dirty, smelly sin threads. It’s time to put on Jesus’ fresh, new threads.

Paul described our old GRAVE clothes really well in verses 5-9, and he goes on to describe our new GRACE clothes really well in verses 12-17. Just as we layer our physical clothes on a cold day, we need to layer our spiritual clothes in this sinful world we live in. These new clothes have 10 layers for us to put on:

1. Put on compassion. Our hearts have to break for those around us who are dead in their sins and lost without Christ. And our hearts need to break for Christians around us who make dumb choices but are in need of grace and forgiveness.

2. Put on kindness. One of the most beautiful examples of kindness in the Bible is when King David reached out to a crippled man named Mephibosheth and adopted him into his family. Mephibosheth could never repay King David for his kindness, but that didn’t matter to David. Kindness never worries about someone returning the favor.

3. Put on humility. This is a mindset where you don’t think highly of yourself, but you also don’t think poorly of yourself. In fact, you think about yourself very little. As humble Christians, we should think first about Christ, second about each other and third about ourselves. That’s a humble mindset.

4. Put on gentleness. In Paul’s day this word referred to power under control. We have the ability to destroy others with our words and actions, but instead we exercise restraint for the good of others.

5. Put on patience. Remember that two of the sins of our old nature are anger and rage. But as followers of Christ, we are supposed to crucify and bury our short fuses. We are not to be short-tempered. We’re supposed to be long-tempered.

6. Put on forbearance. When Christians around us screw up, we may feel that they deserve our judgment and wrath. But forbearance holds back. There are times when we need to take another Christian to task. But these times are few and far between.

7. Put on forgiveness. Whether it’s your ex-husband or a trusted friend who stabbed you in the back … anyone who’s wronged you needs to be forgiven. Unforgiveness is part of our old, smelly grave clothes. Crucify and bury it. And put on forgiveness in its place. 

8. Put on love. Of all the traits that should distinguish a church and the Christians within it, love should be at the top of the list. It’s nice to be known as friendly. It’s great to be known as kind, patient and forgiving. But the greatest of these descriptions is … loving. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

9. Put on peace. When Christ saves us, Jesus sets us free from three wars that we were engaged in: our war with God, our war with people and our war with ourselves. As followers of the Prince of Peace we can now live at peace with God, at peace with others and at peace with ourselves.

10. Put on thankfulness. God has been so good to us. But it’s so easy to think the way the world thinks—to focus on what He hasn’t done for us. “God didn’t heal my family member who died of cancer. God didn’t restore my broken marriage. God didn’t get me that job.” Oh, friends, God didn’t do many things. But I guarantee you that the things God DID do in your life far outnumber the things that He DIDN’T do. So, you and I must be thankful.

Our Christian life means taking off our old sinful selves and putting on our fresh, new selves which are being conformed to the image of Jesus. So, take off your old grave clothes and put on the brand new clothes of Jesus Christ! We are called to wear these fresh, new threads everywhere—at church, at school, at home and at work.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.

Look Up, Christian! Look Up!

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” – Colossians 3:1-2

A year and a half ago, a man who was driving at a pretty fast clip plowed his vehicle into a parked police car. Fortunately, no one was inside the patrol car, and there were no injuries. But how did this happen? Did the driver black out? Was he changing the radio station or adjusting his child’s car seat? Sadly, no. The driver confessed that he crashed into the police car because he was playing a “dumb game” on his phone. The game was Pokemon GO—an interactive game that taps into your phone’s GPS. So his eyes were on his phone, trying to get to the next “Pokestop” and rack up more points.

The game was a massive fad in 2016, and almost immediately after its release, law enforcement officers began to notice an increase in traffic collisions due to distracted drivers playing this silly game. One research study recently estimated that, in a five-month period, Pokemon GO contributed to over 145,000 traffic accidents, over 29,000 injuries and some 256 fatalities. Here’s the moral of the story: Looking DOWN at something fake and temporary instead of looking UP at what is real and lasting can lead to a whole lot of hurt.

In Colossians 2, the Apostle Paul warned us to steer clear of false teachers who try to get us to take our eyes off Jesus Christ by drawing us into manmade religious systems that are cheap and temporary. In time, it will become clear that all of these philosophies and religions are as unsatisfying as a game of Pokemon GO. Jesus Christ has something so much better for us—if we’d just look up.

In Chapter 3, Paul begins by talking a bit about life and death, and it can get confusing. He writes in verse 1 that we “have been raised with Christ.” The clear implication is that we’ve been raised from death. Before someone becomes a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, he’s basically dead to God. And the reason for that boils down to a simple 3-letter word: S-I-N. Because of sin, we are spiritually dead, without hope of ever being raised. But with God, all things are possible.

When we invite Jesus Christ into our lives, God forgives us, pulls us out of the grave and makes us alive with Christ. Every Christian’s spirit has been raised from death to life by Christ. But look at verse 3: “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Then, in verse 5: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature.” Wait a minute! I thought Paul said Christ made us alive. Why is he saying that we’re dead again? I’m a Christian. So, once I was dead. But Jesus made me alive. But at the same time part of me died. And today I’m supposed to put part of myself to death. Huh?

Here’s the bottom line: Every person on earth is dead and alive at the same time. If you have not been saved by Christ, your spirit is dead to God, but your sinful nature is alive and in charge. But if you have been saved by Christ, your sinful nature is dead, but your spirit is alive, with Christ in charge.

So, Paul is teaching us to make sure that our sinful nature stays dead. You see, it’s like those zombies in “The Walking Dead.” Every single day our sinful nature’s corpse pops up and tries to pull us down into the grave with it. So, we have to crucify the sinful nature every single day.

Paul goes on to list five sins of our old nature that we must “put to death.” These five sins can be categorized as sensual sins: sexual Immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed. These sins are part of the old you—your old nature that you shoved in the grave—and they will always drag you down. And in verses 8-10, Paul lists six more sins that can be categorized as social sins: anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying. These may not seem like a big deal, but make no mistake: if we practice them, they’ll corrupt our minds and drag our spirits back down into the grave.

If you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ—if he is truly in the driver’s seat of your life—then your old nature has been killed off and buried. And since it’s been killed off and buried, there’s no place in our lives for the 11 sins that Paul lists in verses 5-10. But we can’t keep that sinful nature in the grave on our own. We must approach our lives, every day, with our minds and our hearts looking up—focused on him.

Although most Christians guard against these 11 sensual and social sins, we often fail to guard ourselves against thinking like the world and prioritizing like the world. We gripe and complain about our churches and worship services because they don’t cater to our personal preferences. But setting our minds and hearts on Christ means asking: What does Christ want? What does he desire? What are his priorities? What will bring him pleasure, honor and glory? When we stop focusing on ourselves and start focusing on and prioritizing these God-given, heavenly priorities, Jesus Christ is so, so pleased with us.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.

Christmas in the Wilderness

“I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way—a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” – Mark 1:2-3

As the Christmas countdown clock winds down, and as you make your way through the checkout lines at WalMart or Winco, chances are you’ve been hearing the question: “Are you ready for Christmas?” And most of us will answer: “NO!!!” After all, you’ve still got shopping to finish and Christmas cards to write and Christmas programs to attend. But in the first chapter of his gospel, Mark reminds us that there is a much more important question to ask: Are you ready for Jesus?

Most of us have never heard a Christmas sermon preached out of the Book of Mark. And there’s a good reason for that: Mark doesn’t write anything about the nativity. Nothing about a baby crying, angels singing or wise men traveling. He doesn’t say a single word about Bethlehem, a virgin birth or a manger. But hidden in the opening verses of Mark 1, there are some powerful, hidden insights about the first Christmas. He starts it right off in verse 1: “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

When Jesus was born, the title Son of God was more or less interchangeable with the title of Messiah or Christ. But as Jesus’ ministry progressed, he demonstrated through his teaching and miracles that the title meant much more than just the Christ: he himself was divine. He himself was God in the flesh. Jesus came to earth as the Christ and the very Son of God. He was 100 percent man, but he was also 100% God. Now, that’s a miracle to celebrate!

But are you ready? As we prepare for Christmas, Mark wants us to know that before Jesus began his ministry, God sent John the Baptist to prepare the way. Mark writes in verses 2 and 3, “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way—a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” Notice that he uses the word “prepare” twice in those two verses. And those who hoped to be in God’s will were called to join him in preparing.

So, this Christmas, what do you think the chances are that God is much more concerned with you preparing your heart for Jesus than He is with you preparing your table for the Christmas ham? What do you suppose the chances are that God is more concerned with you preparing your schedule to worship Christ than He is with you preparing your best white elephant gift?

Don’t get me wrong. The ham and the gifts and the lights and the music are all wonderful parts of the Christmas season. But they’re all meaningless if we don’t prepare ourselves for the heart of Christmas: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born to save the world. God wants us to prepare ourselves and our families to celebrate his coming, to worship his majesty, and to recommit our lives to him.

And for one more marvelous insight … according to verses 3 and 4, where did John do his preaching? Well, some translations use the word “wilderness.” Others translate the Greek word as … “desert.” Doesn’t that sound a lot like the Victor Valley? “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4).

Time and time again in Scripture, we find that God speaks to us in the wilderness, reaches out to us in the wilderness, calls us to repent and change our evil ways in the wilderness, God forgives us and ushers us into the Promised Land from the wilderness. Mark wants us to understand that the story of Christmas—the story of Jesus—begins in the wilderness … or, if you like, the desert.

Let’s be honest: For many of us, this is NOT the most wonderful time of the year. Some of us have lost family members this year. Others have lost jobs, while still others have seen our health take a nosedive. Perhaps you are flat broke and can’t even think about buying presents or taking a trip to see family this Christmas. The truth is—as this year draws to a close, many of us are in the wilderness.

But guess what happens in the wilderness? God speaks. God reaches out. God calls. And what’s His message? “Jesus is coming. In fact, Jesus is already here. Prepare the way for him in your heart, because he is the heart of Christmas. Take hold of him, and don’t let go.”

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.fccvv.com.  Join us for our message series, “Simply Christmas,” Sunday at 10 a.m., and for our Christmas Eve Service Sunday night at 7 pm.

A Strange Beginning to the Christmas Story

“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:21

The Christmas season is one of the most wonderful times of the year, but it’s also one of the most hectic times. With all the shopping, decorating, school programs and parties—for many of us, this season has become too much of a rat race. So this year, I hope you’ll take the time to stop and smell the poinsettias. (Do poinsettias even smell? It doesn’t matter.) If you slow down and push aside the commercialism and hecticness of the season, underneath it all you’ll find the simple heart of Christmas: Jesus Christ—born to save the world.

As with anything simple, it’s best to begin at the beginning: the opening chapters of Matthew. Usually, when we read the Christmas story from Matthew, we skip the first 17 verses. Because, after all, 15 of the first 17 verses are a genealogy—just a list of names. And that’s not very important, right? Yet for some reason, it’s the first scripture to appear in the Bible after the book of Malachi, some 400 years before. Why on earth would the Holy Spirit lead Matthew to break the silence with a genealogy?

Great question. He did it, in large part, because Matthew’s original audience was Jewish. And the Jewish people in Matthew’s day were very concerned about pedigree. For example, a priest was required to give an unbroken record of his genealogy all the way back to Moses’ brother Aaron. So, to the Jews of that time, it would be impressive that Jesus’ ancestry could be traced all the way back to Abraham, and that his lineage also included King David. As Matthew set out to prove that Jesus is the promised Messiah and the King of the Jews, proving that Jesus was both a descendent of Abraham and a descendent of King David was critical. Otherwise Jewish readers would have ignored the rest of Matthew’s gospel account.

After establishing that sterling pedigree, here’s a surprise: Four women are listed in Jesus’ genealogy. Back then, this would have shocked every Jewish reader. The nation of Israel was a very patriarchal society, and most Jewish men would never list any women in their genealogy—especially women with mixed blood lines and sordid pasts. Yet Matthew lists Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. The first two women practiced prostitution. Ruth was from the wicked nation of Moab. And we all know the story of Bathsheba’s affair with King David.

So, what was Matthew thinking? What’s the deal with these four not-so-upstanding women being included in Jesus’ genealogy?

As theologian William Barclay puts it, “If Matthew had ransacked the pages of the Old Testament for improbable candidates he could not have discovered four more incredible ancestors for Jesus Christ [than these four women]. But surely, there is something very lovely in this.” Barclay points out that by including these names at the very beginning of his gospel, Matthew was showing the essence of the good news to come. The story of Jesus Christ is all about barriers going down: the barrier between Jew and Gentile; the barrier between male and female; and most of all, the barrier between saint and sinner. As Jesus says in Matthew 9:13b, “For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

You see, the Good News of Jesus Christ is contained right here—in this genealogy that you’ve always thought was boring and unimportant. Jesus didn’t come to be the Savior of those who have their act together, those who have a squeaky clean past, those who have no skeletons in the closet. Jesus came to be the Savior of the whole world. That includes prostitutes, addicts, liars, cheaters, thieves and murderers. So, no matter what you’ve done, no matter how far you’ve strayed, no matter how many skeletons you have in your closet, Jesus came for you, too. He came for you.

And here’s one more dollop of heartwarming icing on the Christmas cake. In Matthew 1:17, Matthew strategically lists Jesus’ genealogy in three groups of fourteen generations each. If you take a closer look at the beginning and ending names in each group of 14, you’ll discover a beautiful snapshot of human history and the reason for Christmas.

The first group begins with Abraham (the “friend of God”) and ends with David (the “man after God’s own heart”). The second group begins with David and ends with the Babylonian exile—a punishment by God for Israel’s rejection of God. And the third group begins with the exile and ends with the birth of Christ.

Herein lies the unfolding of human history: We were created as friends of God to become men and women after His own heart. But we squandered that wonderful gift by turning our backs on Him. As a result, we suffered defeat and death. But Jesus came to give us grace and hope and life. That’s the story of human history. And that’s simply Christmas!

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.fccvv.com  and join us this Christmas season for our message series, “Simply Christmas,” Sundays at 10 a.m.