Genesis 2:2-3, John 19:30, Matthew 11:28

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

Hi, everybody. I’m Pastor Pittenger, and we’re going to read about the seventh, the last, day of creation. This is Genesis chapter 2 now verses 2 and 3 says

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:2-3)

Genesis 2 verses 2 and 3. Well, now God didn’t rest because he got tired. No, no. God’s all powerful. And in God’s Word, he tells us that he doesn’t get sleepy. Remember, maybe a devotion about sharks? How, God doesn’t slumber or sleep. God rested from creating things because everything that needed to be created had been.

And because at the end of that sixth day, everything was perfect. And God also rested as a pattern or an example for us, because you and me, you and I, we need rest because we do get tired. Everyone does. That’s how God made us and why he gave us a day to rest.

So when we rest our muscles, they’re building themselves back. They’re rebuilding themselves. And even our brains, when they rest, they’re sort of rebuilding and making new connections from everything we learned that day. God knew that we would need this, and so he himself showed us how to do it. But from then on, his people now we’re supposed to take a break.

They’re not supposed to work all the time, every day. They’re also supposed to enjoy the good things that God made for us. Even Jesus rested as a human, as a man. When Jesus was on the cross working to take our sins away. Jesus said this.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30)

That’s John, 19, verse 30. When Jesus’ disciples buried him on Friday, he didn’t do anything at all for that whole Saturday, which was the day of rest for them. He didn’t suffer anymore. He didn’t rise either. He didn’t preach because he was dead. He didn’t even eat or drink. Back then, Saturday was that day of rest. And so Jesus rested from all the work of saving us.

And because of what he did, you and I, we can find rest for our souls in him and in his love. Our sins wear us out sometimes, sometimes even worse than a hard day at school or a hard day playing at a game. Sometimes our sins make things hard between us and our moms and dads or our brothers and sisters. Sometimes we might feel so bad that we cry and we can’t even sleep because of our sins. What can we do, though? We can’t go back a day and undo the sins that we’ve already done. We can’t.

But Jesus says this, Matthew 11:28

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

So by forgiving our sins, Jesus takes them away from us, those bad things we might have done to our brother or might have said to our mother. They’re all gone. He really does take them away. This, I know for the Bible tells me so. We’ll see you guys later. Goodbye.

Genesis 1:24-25, 2 Samuel 22:6

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

Hi, guys. It’s Pastor Pittenger again. And today we’re going to read about the sixth day of creation. So this is from Genesis Chapter 1 verses 24 and 25.

And God said, let the Earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so and God made the beasts of the earth according to their kynes and livestock, according to their kinds and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

So, one of the things that God made on that sixth day is spiders. Lots of people don’t like spiders, and lots of people, even kind of me, are afraid of spiders. Even though God made people on the same day that he made spiders. That’s kind of funny, isn’t it? But spiders really are amazing creatures.

One of the most amazing things about spiders are its web. I mean, how does that tiny little insect know that if it makes, you know, six or maybe eight straight lines, all from one center point, that it’s going to work out as a web? How does it know to make that little circular pattern around and around and that will be a perfect trap for a fly or for a mosquito? And how come flies and mosquitoes get stuck in spider webs, but spiders don’t get stuck in their own webs? Well, these are just how God made them. And some of the things that that at least I don’t know.

But when that fly or that mosquito does get stuck in the web, that’s the end of it, isn’t it? The spider comes down and wraps it up and wraps it up in more web and then saves it to eat for food later on. So if you were a mosquito or a fly, you might be more afraid of spider webs than people are afraid of spiders.

There’s a place in the Bible where it sounds kind of like King David is talking about being caught, maybe like a bug in a spider web. He says this

The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. (2 Samuel 22:6)

That’s second Samuel, 22, verse 6. Sheol is a word for grave. Cords and snares are kind of like a web or like rope. But these things aren’t from a spider. These things that David is talking about were the plans and the tricks of a man who wanted to kill David. David called on God in prayer and he called for help and God did just that. A little bit later, David writes about how God rescued him from those traps or those sticky webs of that other man.

And this is good news, because one day we’re going to going to be trapped in the snares of Sheol, the cords of Sheol. We’re going to die and we’re going to be stuck in the grave. And we would be trapped there forever. More like that fly that’s trapped in the spider web all wound up. The fly can’t get out. There’s no way we could ever get out of being dead and being in the grave. But Jesus did. And Jesus will. Jesus did escape from his own snares and cords of the grave from his own death. And Jesus will rescue you from your death and from your grave.

It doesn’t matter how young or small you are, you might think you’re no bigger or more important than a mosquito. Because you know what? Even if you weren’t. But you are. But even if you weren’t any more important, we know what that song, that favorite song of mine, those little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. So we’ll see you guys later.

Genesis 1:20-22, Psalm 121:4

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

Hi everybody, I’m Pastor Pittenger. Today, we’re going to talk about the fifth day of creation, and we read about that on the very first page of our Bible, Genesis Chapter 1, today we’ll read verses 20, 21, and 22.

God said, “Let the waters swarm with living creatures, and let birds and other winged creatures fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their own kind, and every winged bird according to its own kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed them when he said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” (Genesis 1:20-22)

So one of the animals that God created, one of the fish that God created on this fifth day, is sharks. Sharks can be ferocious and scary. When sharks bite their food or their prey, they bite so hard that sometimes they can lose their teeth. But that’s OK, because God created sharks, that they’re always growing new teeth so they can keep eating.

But I think one of the most interesting things about sharks is that they don’t sleep the way that you and I sleep. You see, only by moving through the water can a shark get oxygen through its gills and, you know, in order to breathe. Only by moving. It’s kind of like if the only way for you to breathe would be to walk or to run. You can’t breathe just sitting still like I’m sitting. So sharks, when they stop moving, they stop breathing, and so they only do that and rest for a very little while.

I need to get sleep every night or else it’s hard for me to think and it’s hard for me to work. But because God made sharks the way he did make them, they probably don’t feel any more tired than you do after you just play outside. Isn’t it amazing how different all of God’s creation is? Listen to this Bible verse, because this Bible verse has some really, really good news for you, and for me. It’s Psalm 121, verse 4.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. (Psalm 121:4)

God never, ever sleeps. Never. Nothing ever happens without God knowing about it. And even without God knowing what it’s going to do to you or to your mom and dad, God also knows how he’s going to take care of all things and how he’s going to take care of you. God’s not like us. God doesn’t need to close his eyes and rest. God is perfect and he is all powerful. So tonight, when you guys lay down to sleep. You don’t need to worry. You don’t need to worry that God and his angels won’t be there because they will be. They’re going to be watching over you all night long. They, that’s us, are weak, but he is strong. We’ll see you guys later.

Genesis 1:14, John 15:16

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

Hi, guys, I’m Pastor Pittenger, and today we’re going to talk about day four of God’s creation. So we read about this in Genesis 1. I’m going to read verse 14.

God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night, and let them serve as markers to indicate seasons, days, and years.” (Genesis 1:14)

That’s Genesis 1, verse 14. Do you guys know the names of any planets in our solar system? If you start from the sun and work your way out, we have Mercury and Venus and Earth and Mars. And then there’s Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. So that’s eight in all. When I was a kid, we counted a planet named Pluto as nine, but we’ll say eight in all.

So when I was a kid, there were only eight planets that we knew of. And so our planet Earth was one out of eight. But nowadays we have much more powerful telescopes that can look farther and farther into space. And so nowadays, scientists believe or think that there might be as many planets up there in space as there are stars. Think of that. The next time you go outside at night and you look up, there might be that many planets, trillions and trillions of planets.

What do all these planets do? I mean, why did God create them? Well, we don’t know what they all do, but we do know some things. For example, do you guys know what a soccer goalie does? A soccer goalie or a goalie is supposed to stop the ball from getting into the net, right? The planet Jupiter works like a goalie for planet Earth, the planet Jupiter is so big, which means its gravity is so strong that stray rocks that are floating around, drifting around in space, they get pulled into Jupiter where they crash harmlessly without hurting anything. But if Jupiter wasn’t there, those rocks might get in and they might hit our planet. And if they did, they could do a lot of damage. Some of them would be big enough to even destroy all the life that God created.

And so one of the things that Jupiter does that God created Jupiter to do is to protect our planet and keep us safe. So as planets go, though, planet Earth is very, very special. Again, when I was a kid, planet Earth was one out of eight. Now, if there are billions or trillions of planets, we still see that we are very, very special. The only one where life exists, the only one that life can live on. And the only one that’s protected by Jupiter and by so many other things that God created to keep planet Earth safe.

Listen to this Bible verse. All this reminds me of something Jesus said, John, chapter 15, verse 16. Jesus said this.

You did not choose me, but I chose you. (John 15:16)

In that second Bible verse, Jesus assures us, he promises us that we are his people because he chose us. He chose you before you were even born, he had already decided to suffer and die for your sins and rise again. In fact, he had already done it before any of us were even born. He promised that he would save us.

Jesus has done everything that you would need to do to be in heaven. He paid all the punishments that you and I deserve. And he rose, Jesus is alive, and he’s promised that he’s going to have a place better than our planet, a place ready for us with him in heaven. Because as one of my favorite songs goes, because little ones to him belong.

All right, we’ll see you guys later.

Genesis 1:11, Isaiah 40:8

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

Hi, guys, I’m Pastor Pittenger. Today, we’re going to talk about the third day of creation, what God made on all that dry land when he made the seas. So this is from Genesis, chapter 1. This is verse 11.

And God said, let the earth sprout vegetation plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And it was so. (Genesis 1:11)

So a seed is inside the fruit and the fruit is usually on the stem of a branch. Now, many plants and many trees, which God created on that third day, they have flowers. I found a flower that I can show to you here. So they have flowers and what a flower is, well, usually the flower comes before the fruit comes or before the seed comes.

What are flowers? Well, flowers are pretty. Can you think of any names of flowers? Can you name any? What’s your mom’s favorite flower? That’s something all kids should know so they can make sure and pick her flowers that she likes. But what are flowers? Well, flowers are bright and pretty and smelly. They usually smell good not all the time, but usually they smell nice. But they’re that part of the plant that helps the plant make fruit and make seeds inside that fruit.

What happens is this. So some animals like maybe a bat and some birds and lots of different bugs and insects, they’ll come in to the flower to get a drink of that sweet smelling stuff. We call it nectar. And then they’ll move on and they’ll go over to another flower. And when they move to that second flower, sometimes they’ll have bits of the first flower stuck to them and it’ll rub off in the second flower. And when that happens, then the flower will wither away pretty soon because the plant is now going to start making seeds and fruit to surround that seed. This is God’s way of making sure that there will be more seeds to plant, to grow more flowers or trees or vegetables, and that there will be fruit for people and for animals to eat.

Well, just as one seed gets planted. And later there are lots and lots of seeds and so lots and lots of more flowers. God says that his Word works exactly like that. Listen to this reading. This is from Isaiah, Chapter 40. It’s verse 8. Here, the Bible says,

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

So there the prophet Isaiah talks about flowers, but he talks about them withering away and dying. But what did Isaiah say would remain or endure or stand forever? He said the Word of God. God doesn’t change his mind, which means God doesn’t change what his word says, which is really good news for us, because in God’s word, here is where we learn about our Savior Jesus. And how God loved us in Jesus. And how Jesus lived and how Jesus died and how Jesus rose again for us. Jesus loves me, this, I know, for the Bible tells me so. We’ll see you guys later. Goodbye.

Genesis 1:9-10, Micah 7:19

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

Hi you guys, is Pastor Pittenger again, and today we’re going to read about the third day of creation. So this is from Genesis 1, this is verses 9 and 10.

And God said, let the waters underneath the heavens be gathered together into one place and let dry land appear. And it was so God called the dry land earth and the waters that were gathered together. He called seas and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:9-10)

So as God created all that water and separated it from up above and down below, then he gathered those waters into places like ponds and lakes and rivers, but eventually all those things end up in the ocean or in seas.

Did you know that oceans or the sea is so big that it wasn’t until just a few hundred years ago that people found a way to safely sail across the ocean or the sea? That means that for thousands and thousands of years, people couldn’t cross them and get to new places. The seas were just too large and it was too hard to know where you were to navigate. And the waves were too strong for the little boats that people were making.

Well, not today. Today ships sail back and forth across the ocean, submarines, and even scuba divers travel underneath the waves. But still, God’s seas are still quite a mystery to us. Scientists say that they know more about the moon out in space like, four hundred thousand miles away, then they know about the ocean. I live one mile from the ocean. And we know more about the moon than it.

God created the seas to be very, very deep in places, the deepest spot in the world is called Challenger Deep. It’s a place so deep that if you could pick up the biggest mountain, the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, you could drop it down in that place and it would go underwater completely. It would disappear and you wouldn’t be able to see it. That’s how deep the ocean is.

So I want you to pretend that you’re on a ship and you’re floating out there over that spot in the ocean. Now, pretend that you reached in your pocket and you could pull out rocks, stones from your pocket. And each stone had written on it your sins. Bad things, naughty things, that you had done when you didn’t listen to your mom and dad, when you didn’t obey God’s word, pull all those rocks out. What would happen if you went over to the railing, the side of the ship, and you dropped them into the sea? Well if that giant mountain disappeared, these little stones would disappear as well. They’d be gone and no one could ever find them again.

Listen to the second Bible reading that I have for you today. It’s from Micah chapter 7, verse 19 here, God says:

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)

Except God doesn’t take us on an ocean voyage to get rid of our sins. No, in Jesus, God has promised that our sins have been forgiven and washed away and they’re completely gone. God says he doesn’t even remember them. And so in Jesus, we are new people, forgiven and loved and free. Love him in return.

The Bible tells me so.

We’ll see you guys later.

Genesis 1:6-8, Isaiah 55:10-11

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

Hi, everybody, I’m Pastor Pittenger. Today, we’re going to talk about the second day of creation and we read about this, in the very first page of our Bible, Genesis, Chapter 1.

And God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water. And God made the expanse and he separated the waters that were above from the waters that were below. And it was so and God called the expanse, heaven, sky. And there was evening and there was morning the second day. (Genesis 1:6-8)

So that’s Genesis 1:6-8. So on that second day, God created a space between these waters that he had made waters up above and waters down below. And he created the sky, a scientist might call it the atmosphere. When I was a kid, I always thought that the second day of creation must have been a really easy day for God, because all he did was separate those waters up above and down below. But there’s a lot more to it than that.

The sun, which he won’t make for two more days yet, the sun sends radiation to the earth. And radiation is a kind of energy or light that we can’t see. But it can make us very sick and it can even kill us. Well the sky keeps that radiation from getting all the way down to us. Scientists called that part of the sky, the stratosphere. And there’s another part of the sky that scientists call the troposphere. And this one is really cool. The troposphere is where the air warms up during the day with the sun and then where it cools off at night. And all that heating and cooling makes clouds. And so then it makes rain and it makes our wind. So our weather, the weather you’re having right now, comes from the troposphere that God created.

It’s not even going to be until the third day that God will create plants, but look how he’s already protecting them from radiation and providing rain for water, all the things that God has made, he cares for them all. Listen to this Bible verse

Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return there unless they first water the earth, make it give birth, and cause it to sprout, so that it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, in the same way my word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty. Rather, it will accomplish whatever I please, and it will succeed in the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

That’s Isaiah 55:10-11. And right there that part of the Bible tells us that God’s word makes our faith grow just like rain makes plants grow. God’s word. Like God’s word that you hear when you go to church. Or like when mom and dad read to you from the Bible or from a Bible story. Or even like God’s word that you hear in these Devotions that you watch on your computer. Now, we might not understand exactly how God makes all this work, but that’s OK. God says it does and he makes sure that it does.

The faith that God causes to grow is faith in him, his promise that he loves us and that he will save us. Its faith in Jesus, who is our Savior and who lived and who died and who rose again for us. So just like a rain shower, that cool water refreshes a thirsty plant, God’s word and the promises here, in God’s word, refresh our faith and our soul and give our faith exactly what faith needs to stay alive.

This, I know, for the Bible tells me so.

Genesis 1:3-5, John 12:46

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

Hello, everybody, my name is Tony Pittenger. I’m a pastor out in Washington State, and I want to say hi to all of you, especially to you kids. Out in Washington State, I get to be outside a lot in God’s creation. And so I’m going to bring you a few devotions about God’s creation. We first hear about God’s creation in our Bible, the very beginning, the first page, Genesis, Chapter 1.

And God said, let there be light. And there was light. God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness. He called night. And there was evening and there was morning the first day. (Genesis 1:3-5)

So that’s Genesis 1:3-5. And the Bible tells us here that the very first thing that God created was light. Now modern scientists will tell us that light is everything from the power that cooks your food in the microwave to the way that the radio in your mom and dad’s car works. We usually think of light as what comes from light bulbs or as what comes from the sun. But remember, God hadn’t created the sun yet, and a man named Thomas Edison wouldn’t invent light bulbs for thousands and thousands of years. So on the first day, there was just light.

I want you to imagine yourself in your bedroom closet, you go in there and you close the door and you turn off the lights. Why is it dark? Well, it’s dark because there is no light. But now if you open the door, what happens? Light from your bedroom comes into your closet. But now I want you to look. Look out into your bedroom. Is there any darkness spilling out from the closet into your bedroom? No, there is not. You know why? Because while light is actually something, darkness is nothing.

Darkness is a complete absence or void of anything. Scientists tell us that lights actually made up of tiny little bits, tiny particles called photons. Darkness is nothing. Well, the Bible describes unbelief and sin as darkness, as having nothing, nothing to do with God, a total absence of God. But Jesus says in the Bible that he is the light of the world. Here, listen to this. Jesus says,

I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. (John 12:46)

Now, what do those words mean? Well, they mean that just as Jesus is God and he is the one where life comes from. He is also the one who shines light into this world. And not just light from the sun or even from a light bulb, but the light of faith. Light was the very first thing that God gave to his creation and light is what is needed for life to exist. In darkness, we have only death. Jesus is what is needed for our lives to exist with God, Jesus is the one who brought us back to the Father when we were sinners, who didn’t even know anything about him.

If we were plants living here on this earth, we might say give us more light so that we can live. Because we are God’s children, we can say give us more of Jesus, our Savior, so that we can live with him here and forever in heaven.

One of my favorite songs, one of my favorite songs as a kid even, was a song Jesus Loves Me because it tells me how I can know this. This I know for the Bible tells me so, amen.