Last week we started a new series called, “The Night that Changed Everything.”  We’re looking at the significance of Christmas, a night that changed much more than most of us imagine.  We’ll see its impact on five segments of society:

  1. The Night That Changed the Religious
  2. The Night That Changed the Powerful
  3. The Night That Changed the Poor
  4. The Night That Changed You
  5. The Night That Changed the Wise

This week we’re looking at how it changed the poor.  Often the poor are excluded from important events – there were reports of homeless people being temporarily removed from the streets before the Atlanta Olympics, for example.  When the world was watching, Atlanta didn’t want them seeing poverty.

But strangely, the Christmas story puts poor people front and centre.  Mary and Joseph themselves are travellers with apparently modest means.  The first visitors to see the baby are shepherds.

We’ll explore this week why it’s significant that the poor are so prominent in this important event.

Question: What role do the poor play in our world?

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - September 11, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - Neighbours Matter

So what is the connection between loving God and loving our neighbour? If there is real love of God, there will be love for ourselves, and love for our neighbour. See how complete Jesus reminds us this love for God is meant to be: all our heart, soul and mind. We are so often tempted to hold something back. We want to love ourselves on our own terms – to love ourselves fully, like we should love God. But that would lead to a world full of Gods, and how would that work out? Or we are tempted to put these two loves in opposition. I can either be good, ethical, and law-abiding to love God, or I can just love people. The problem with this is that true love of our neighbour flows from the love ofGod. Our love for God leads to love of our neighbours, which leads us to want to act right toward them. Without love for God, and an experience of his love, we each have to define love for ourselves, and we all have different ideas about what love is! We’ll see tomorrow how Jesus’ self-giving love sets the pattern for our love, while freeing us from the traps of loving ourselves first, trying to use others to earn our salvation, or any other attempt to manipulate God or others. Question: Define love.

From Series: Won't You Be My Neighbour? | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

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