Community Church of Ludington

Lent Devotion for Monday, February 23, 2026

Read Luke 9:37-43a

I often find it amazing how quickly Satan makes his appearance after we have a wonderful experience in our faith journey. Peter, James, and John just had one of those “mountaintop experiences” in their faith journey and the moment they get off the mountain they are greeted by a boy possessed by demons. Have you ever gone on a spiritual retreat or conference with other Christians and had a great time worshipping God and you feel totally uplifted and energized only to be immediately greeted with something that makes you angry or brings you down? This passage reminds us to go back to the voice of God on the mountain and listen to Jesus.

Don’t forget: While we might be as powerless to heal as the disciples were, Jesus is not. Pray that when we face difficult circumstances that we will turn to Jesus (listen to Him) and not let these situations in life overcome our faith and lead us away from Jesus.

Brett Spalding, Pastor

Lent Devotion for Sunday February 22, 2026

Read 2 Peter 1:16-18

In this letter, Peter seeks to remind us of the true message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He implores us not to fall victim to clever stories made by false prophets. Jesus will come in power and glory and Peter states with confidence that he, James, and John were witnesses to His glory on the sacred mountain. As one reads this it is easy to make the link to Peter’s sermon at Pentecost; “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:32-33)

Let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to speak truth to us, and listen carefully, so we never fall victim to any false teachings or false teachers.

Brett Spalding, Pastor

Lent Devotion for Saturday, February 21, 2026

Read Luke 9:35-36

Before any reply is given to Peter’s sincere, but misguided request, the voice of heaven is heard, and God tells Peter, James, and John that Jesus is His Son, and they should “listen to Him.” There is no response; only silence from the witnesses as Jesus’ glory is revealed by God the Father. We should not overlook the obvious message here as well; God is telling us to listen to Jesus as much as He is telling Peter, James, and John. My grandfather used to tell me; “you have two ears and one mouth, use them in proportion.” Let us be slow to speak and quick to listen to the words of Jesus. Pray today for quiet time to listen for the voice of God speaking to us through the Holy Spirit and Scripture.

Brett Spalding, Pastor

Lent Devotion for Friday, February 20, 2026

Read Luke 9:33-34

Peter’s response is typical Peter; he may not always know what he is saying, but he is faithful and wants to do the right thing. Peter has genuine faith and realizes that something very special is happening and he wants to enjoy this moment. We sometimes want to do that as well. We like the mountaintop experiences, and we want to savor them, we want them to last permanently. Our faith however, requires us come down from the safety and excitement of the mountaintop and live (share) our faith in our difficult and sometimes mundane world.

While we desire those exciting mountaintop experiences, they are not where we live out our faith. I encourage you to pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will respond graciously and joyfully to the everyday opportunities we have to share our faith and serve to make another person’s life better.

Pastor Brett Spalding

Lent Devotion for Thursday, February 19, 2026

Read: Luke 9:28-32

Don’t forget the obvious here; Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain to pray. Sometimes we focus on the brilliant light of the transfiguration and the sight of Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus about his bringing fulfillment of the Law and the prophecy of the coming messiah. It is important to remember, the original point of this journey up the mountain was to pray. It is during this time of prayer that Jesus, glory is fully revealed to Peter, James, and John.

I encourage you to pray and consider the times God has revealed His glory to you in great ways and in small, quiet, private ways as well during and immediately following times of prayer.

Brett Spalding, Pastor

Lent Devotion for Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Ash Wednesday, Psalm 133

Our lent journey begins at Mount Hermon, the likely site of Jesus’ transfiguration. To the ancients and people of today, Mount Hermon is considered a place of blessing. The snow melting from Mount Hermon provides lush green foothills and water for the Jordan River. In our Psalm reading today, David compares our dwelling in unity as people to the blessing of “precious oil poured on the head.” In other words, that unity is like the blessing of water flowing from the mountain to sustain the people of Israel. We can make the direct correlation of our being sustained in our oneness in Christ, the source of all our blessings.

Think about areas where you can bring people together in unity in your life and in the church. Pray for unity in the church that flows from our source of life in Jesus Christ.

Brett Spalding, Pastor

Nobodies…

You know the story of David and Goliath. David, a young shepherd boy walks through the Valley of Elah. Awaiting him is a giant who taunts him every step of the way.

Goliath is huge and imposing. Even the most skilled soldier in Saul’s army wants nothing to do with Goliath. He stands 9 feet tall; the armor he wore would probably crush the average man. In addition he carried a sword, shield, and spear that we would have trouble lifting, not to mention throwing. He was afraid of no one, especially this annoying shepherd boy.

David comes with only a sling in his hand; in his pouch a few rocks from a dry stream bed were carefully selected. No armor, no sword, no long javelin like spear, and no shield; a mere gnat in the eyes of Goliath.

It seems like a humorous joke to even contemplate. Casting Crowns in their song titled “Nobody” states, “David brought a rock to a sword fight.” But was that all he brought?

After all the taunting from Goliath and his booming voice that fills the entire valley, David gets close enough he finally responds, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord almighty…”

David brought much more than a rock to this sword fight; he brought God with Him!

David trusted in the Lord, he trusted that God would deliver him. After all, God delivered him many times when he faced lions and bears after his sheep and killed them with his sling. Now Goliath is after his people, God’s people, and David has faith in God to deliver him. David saw this more as God overcoming this threat than him.

David understood why he was called to this place – because he had learned to trust God. We’ve been talking a lot in church about sharing our faith and how “analysis paralysis” always seems to get in our way. We think of 100 reasons why we can’t and why we won’t be successful.

The song “Nobody” expresses the fear that often keeps us from sharing our story, our faith in Jesus with others. When we look at the Bible and who God chooses, we fit right in. Here is a part of the chorus, and here is a link if you want to listen to the whole song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yBzIt_z8oY

I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody
All about Somebody who saved my soul

Know that God chose you and me (nobodies) to share Jesus with somebody. You may think you are only bringing a rock to a sword fight, but we know how that turned out – remember you come armed with the Holy Spirit of Jesus!!!

Share your story of how Jesus saved you!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Brett

Fill Us With the Holy Spirit

“The Kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power.” (1 Corinthians 4:20)

We’ve spent the past three months talking about the Holy Spirit. We’ve seen from God’s Word who the Holy Spirit is and the power He seeks to provide us:

1. The Holy Spirit is God. Yes, the Holy Spirit is God, equal with the Father and Jesus the Son in His deity and humanity. The Holy Spirit is not an “it”, some impersonal force or energy, but truly a personal guide, helper, and comforter living in each of us. (Read John 14:26)

2. A Gift from God. The Holy Spirit lives in all believers. (Read John 14:15-17, 1 Corinthians 12:13)

3. The Holy Spirit provides Spiritual gifts to all believers. (Read 1 Corinthians 12)

4. The Holy Spirit seeks to develop certain characteristics on each of us. The Fruits of the Spirit are these nine attributes that the manifest themselves in a person who lives according to the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. (Read Galatians 5:23-26)

5. The Holy Spirit intercedes when we cannot speak for ourselves. The Holy Spirit prays to the Father for us when we don’t know what to say or have the words to say it. (Read Romans 8:26-27)

While doing some reading this morning I came across the scripture above and I realized that all this study of the Holy Spirit is wonderful, but that is not what He is about.

Jon Bloom reminded me with these words, “If we are not disillusioned with how much we have allowed our talk to pass for our walk, discontented with the sparse amount of spiritual fruit we are truly bearing, and disappointed by the impotence of our own efforts, we will never be distressed enough to really plead with God to fill us with the Holy Spirit. If we are not disturbed by how little we can do in our own power, we’ll never be desperate enough to ask God for His.”

When the church went about its work in the century following Christ’s resurrection, they did so with the power of the Holy Spirit. Does our ministry here resemble that? Are we relying on the power of the Holy Spirit for ministry or do we only see what we are capable of on our own? Or don’t we really care anymore? Our words say we care, but do our actions?

I’ve heard it too often – I’m tired, I don’t have the energy, I’ve already done that, I wish things were like they used to be, As Bloom puts it, “Do you long for more fruit, both the internal fruit of the Holy Spirit and the external fruit of empowered ministry?”

If this describes you at all, close your eyes, bow your head, and pray this prayer:

“Heavenly Father, renew the power of the Holy Spirit living in me. Whatever it takes Lord, renew the power of the Holy Spirit living in me. I may not possess the physical stamina I used to or the youthfulness I once had, but you can still use me and I want that to happen. I don’t want my church to die, and I don’t want to just exist. I want my life and my church to be a light for Your Gospel in whatever way you want that to happen. Whatever it takes Father, fill me with Your Holy Spirit and give me any gifts that would be pleasing to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

God’s Blessings,

Pastor Brett

Thoughts on Creation

This time of year I spend an hour or so a day in the garden or the flower gardens weeding, mulching, watering, keeping an eye out for bugs, and training plants. I find great joy in watching the plants and flowers grow.

I couldn’t help but think of the joy that God must have felt when creating all this. We know how God felt because each time He created something He stopped to look and then commented, “It was good.” In the end He looked at creation and said, “It was very good.”

John Piper in his book, “The Pleasures of God,” reminds that Job 38:4-7 speaks of the joy at creation. When God laid the earth’s foundations and laid the cornerstones “the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy!” Great rejoicing occurred at the earth’s creation.

Psalm 104 was written to express the joy that God felt in His creation. Verse 31 focuses this thought: “May the glory of the Lord endure forever, may the Lord rejoice in His works.” This isn’t a request that this would happen, but a statement that it is happening. The Psalm bookends all the glory of God’s creation with the command for us to praise the Lord, the creator of all we have.

Sometimes we look at this and think, wow, what a beautiful creation God made and we forget one thing; God made us. Yes, God made us too, we are a part of all this and we are good.

It is overwhelming to think of the power of God, who created everything, of which we only grow to see a very small percentage of. None of us will see the depths of the ocean, the heights of the mountains, or most of what lies in between and what lies beyond.

One quick note – we need to be careful not worship creation though. We are called to praise and worship the Creator, our God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Piper states, “The message of creation is this: there is a great God of glory and power and generosity behind all this awesome universe; you belong to Him; he is patient with you in sustaining your rebellious life; turn and bank your hope on Him and delight yourself in Him, not His handiwork.”

So the question we need to ask is this: “Why does God take joy in His creation?” The best answer is this: Because God’s glory is reflected in it. In other words, God created the earth and everyone in it for His enjoyment.

It makes sense. Why do we as humans have children? For the same reason, to enjoy them. Children bring joy to us, just as we bring joy to God. As Piper reminds us above, we are rebellious, like our children are toward us as parents, but we still love them unconditionally. God is patient. He walks with us despite our sinful rebellion, He loves us unconditionally.

Today I am reminded to look beyond creation, to the source of creation and the only true source of joy in life, God. While I find great joy in what God has created, but my soul will never be truly satisfied until I am with God in the eternal home He is creating for me.

Thanks for reading!

Grace and Peace to You,

Pastor Brett

December 24 “The Work of Christmas”

I was just watching the Wheaton College Christmas concert and one of the songs really caught my attention. Among the familiar hymns and carols was a poem by Howard Thurman presented a cappella titled “The Work of Christmas.”

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,
To heal the Broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music from the heart.

This poem reminds us that Christmas is not the destination. When the 12 Days of Christmas ends and the season of Epiphany arrives, the celebration in not over, but just beginning. This poem reminds us all that celebrating Christmas is really about what happens after Christmas is over.

When the special services of worship are over and the carols have been sung, when the star in the sky pointing us to Jesus has been replaced by the Holy Spirit, when the family members have all returned home, when everyone is back to work, then we begin to truly celebrate Christmas. If Christmas is truly about celebrating Jesus Christ, then we have to follow his example; we have to do His work. The work of Christmas is not returning the gifts or shopping with the gift cards or seeking to lose the extra pounds. No, Thurman’s second paragraph, inspired by scripture, describes the work of Christmas;

“And He (Jesus) said to them, Go into the all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Matthew 16:15-16)

“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.” (Isaiah 58:10)

“Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors Him.” (Proverbs 14:31)

Prayer: Father, please open my heart to truly celebrate Christmas long after the 12 day celebration is over. Enlighten me to the needs of those around me and to those who are lost. I pray that you will open (you put in the name of a friend) heart to Jesus and His love and salvation. May my words and actions in partnership with Your work in them cause them to come and be baptized and become a disciple. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen