Thursday - Act On It - The Night That Changed The Religious
We’ve mostly looked at one prophecy or prediction about Jesus this week, about his virgin birth and being God in the flesh (incarnate). But Jesus fit many other predictions as well, some of them relating to his birth.
He was born in Bethlehem
Micah 5:2. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Micah 5:2 ESV)
He was a refugee in Egypt.
Hosea 11:1 11 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
Together, they all form one picture.
The rightful king of Israel is God himself, he’s come to earth to fulfill the promise that Abraham’s descendents would bless the entire world. Jesus is a descendent of Abraham and King David. Jesus did this in dying for the entire world’s sins, and reigns now over his kingdom, which is coming in its fullness.
God has come to us, when we couldn’t get to him.
God has given us the gift of grace, when we have nothing to offer but thanks.
This is most challenging to religious people, because we can become accustomed to knowing about God at a distance, and the systems and codes we put in place for this all get thrown out when God shows up in person, and Knowing About God shifts to simply Knowing God.
Challenge: How can you and/or family focus on this central meaning of Christmas? Advent is the traditional time for the time before Christmas when Christians prepare themselves to truly enter into the story.
We’ll provide some Advent resources here you might use for you or your family:
So why do Christians gather to worship week in and week out? The answer is that there are at least three very good reasons: to acknowledge God’s presence and worth, to remember that we are not alone but part of a community that is growing and learning, and to offer a visible witness to ourselves and others. But when we gather to worship for these reasons, what do we do? We celebrate!
The keynote of worship is celebration. At times in its long and winding history the church has lost its sight of this. But that is what Sunday mornings are all about—celebrating who we know God is (wow—he is our Father) --celebrating what Jesus has done for us (wow—set us free from the consequences of our sin)---celebrating that can live in relationship with God through the power of the Holy Spirit (wow---we are not alone).
God is a God who throws parties. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Jesus told adults to keep their eyes on the children if they wanted to know what God is like. Left on their own, adults develop strange ideas of what worship should be. …in the purely adult world, God frequently comes across as a cranky old grandfather..but children seem to know instinctively that God likes celebration.
Christians are people who are called to live in community, and we are a community of learners. We need to realize how impossible it is to be a Christian on our own, not to mention half the fun.
As Redeemer Church comes together, we’ll have three approaches to worship, in order:
Personal: We encourage you to engage in prayer, particularly on Fridays. We also hope you’ll have personal moments of worship to thank God for what happens in your life day to day.
Small Groups: As you share our challenges with friends, we hope your Friday prayers will no longer be something quiet and personal but something you share with the team. Share the moments when God was at work in your life, and pray about them!
Celebration Events: Up to now, our celebration events have been just about fun, but in a few months we’ll start to host events with worship component. We want to hear from you what will help you worship God as part of a larger community.
Challenge: Complete our online survey about worship here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8TS7K93
Reminder: Earlier in this series, we saw the importance of reading the Bible together in sync, so our new daily bible readings start today in our mobile app and web site.
This series looks at becoming “like family” with others learning to follow Jesus. We're exploring how the church is not a building, institution or event, but a community of people. It's important that explore what church means as we prepare to launch a new church in Ajax in 2014.
