Advent is coming. At North Church we will be studying the themes of Advent (Hope, Joy, Peace, Love) starting Novemeber 29 and running through Christmas.
As we move toward the season of Christmas and all the materialism that comes along with it, I want to encourage you to connect with a church that is paying attention to the Advent season. Find a place that will guide you to cherishing Jesus during this season.
We have developed a booklet that we will giving out for Advent. It is called Adevent, THE COMING. It is a book of devotional thoughts to read daily to connect our hearts with the meaning of Advent and what came into the world when Jesus came into the world.
The following is the introduction to that booklet::
The Coming.
Thousands of years ago, during the time the Old Testament was written, God spoke to his people through prophets. Prophets were people chosen by God to communicate truth about God, revealing His character and His love to His people. When Jesus was born, these prophets had been silent for more than 400 years.
God’s people had no autonomy and were being ruled by Rome. The people were lost, oppressed and lacked hope. But God’s plan was to send his son to redeem the world. His plan was to bring hope, joy, peace and love to the world. His plan was to demonstrate His love by sending His son to the world as a baby.
This booklet is a study that is written to experience the Christmas season in a deeper way. It is designed to help you connect with THE COMING of Jesus. We will center our study on four concepts that Jesus’ coming brought to the world: hope, joy, peace and love.
Tuesday Link of the Week
This one is for everyone who is tired and really busy. I am guessing it is for a lot of you. It is from Josh Patterson. He is a pastor at The Village Church in Dallas.
Josh Patterson on Rest
Josh Patterson on Rest
An Exposition of Romans 5; Part 5
Rom 5:7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--
Rom 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
These two verses go together. The message of 7 is leading to verse 8. By the way, verse 8 is the best verse in the Bible. It is the gospel in one verse. We will center the discussion today on this one verse.
To see this verse rightly we have to come grips with a key word. The word that is translated here as “shows” is the Greek word sunistao. It means to set in the same place, to set one with another. Other English translations for the word are proves, demonstrates and commendeth. None of these English words do it justice.
Study of the Greek brings to mind that God has placed his love within the reach of us. Look around the room where you are right now and find an object. Imagine that you can not move. The only way for you get that object is for an outside force to somehow move that object within your reach. This is the concept that is being conveyed here with this language. The love of God is being placed within your reach.
I was visiting an Air Force buddy one weekend on his base and he had to work early in the morning so I took a walk down by the runway. I sat under a tree reading and watching planes take off. Most of them were large transport planes that were not any bigger or faster than a commercial jet. Then there was a very small plane that came along. It slowly rolled down the runway and stopped at the place where the other planes had stopped. I presumed they were making last minute checks and getting cleared for take off. This little plane moved very slowly to its position, the same speed as the other large planes. Then there was a growing roar that came from this small plane. It started small and worked into a fierce, high pitched scream. Just then, the plane sped down the runway with furious speed. In a fraction of the time and distance of the large planes, this little was in the air and completely out of sight.
Sitting there in its ready position waiting for clearance, the plane appeared to have nothing special that set it apart from the others. In an instant, the power of the plane was shown, demonstrated and proved for all around to see.
God shows his love in the same way.
There is more here in this verse. Scripture tells us that God is Holy and cannot be in the presence of sin. Before Jesus, we are filled with sin and literally repelling to God. It also says that as sinners our mouths are as open graves, filled with disease and what comes out of us is disease spreading and putrid. It is this fact that brings out the wonder and awe to the rest of this verse. God demonstrated his love while we were still repulsive to him. He did this by sending his Jesus to die for us.
We were all dead and wasting away in pool of disease when Jesus, in all His perfection came within our reach and brought us to life and pulled us from the disease swamp.
There is a song that some of the leadership of North Church wrote a while ago that talks about this concept of the love of God and it being in the reach of sinners. The message is clear that God’s love remains steadfast without regard to our behavior. Listen to the song and enjoy the steadfast love of our God, bask in it today, worship Him!
Steadfast love
Rom 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
These two verses go together. The message of 7 is leading to verse 8. By the way, verse 8 is the best verse in the Bible. It is the gospel in one verse. We will center the discussion today on this one verse.
To see this verse rightly we have to come grips with a key word. The word that is translated here as “shows” is the Greek word sunistao. It means to set in the same place, to set one with another. Other English translations for the word are proves, demonstrates and commendeth. None of these English words do it justice.
Study of the Greek brings to mind that God has placed his love within the reach of us. Look around the room where you are right now and find an object. Imagine that you can not move. The only way for you get that object is for an outside force to somehow move that object within your reach. This is the concept that is being conveyed here with this language. The love of God is being placed within your reach.
I was visiting an Air Force buddy one weekend on his base and he had to work early in the morning so I took a walk down by the runway. I sat under a tree reading and watching planes take off. Most of them were large transport planes that were not any bigger or faster than a commercial jet. Then there was a very small plane that came along. It slowly rolled down the runway and stopped at the place where the other planes had stopped. I presumed they were making last minute checks and getting cleared for take off. This little plane moved very slowly to its position, the same speed as the other large planes. Then there was a growing roar that came from this small plane. It started small and worked into a fierce, high pitched scream. Just then, the plane sped down the runway with furious speed. In a fraction of the time and distance of the large planes, this little was in the air and completely out of sight.
Sitting there in its ready position waiting for clearance, the plane appeared to have nothing special that set it apart from the others. In an instant, the power of the plane was shown, demonstrated and proved for all around to see.
God shows his love in the same way.
There is more here in this verse. Scripture tells us that God is Holy and cannot be in the presence of sin. Before Jesus, we are filled with sin and literally repelling to God. It also says that as sinners our mouths are as open graves, filled with disease and what comes out of us is disease spreading and putrid. It is this fact that brings out the wonder and awe to the rest of this verse. God demonstrated his love while we were still repulsive to him. He did this by sending his Jesus to die for us.
We were all dead and wasting away in pool of disease when Jesus, in all His perfection came within our reach and brought us to life and pulled us from the disease swamp.
There is a song that some of the leadership of North Church wrote a while ago that talks about this concept of the love of God and it being in the reach of sinners. The message is clear that God’s love remains steadfast without regard to our behavior. Listen to the song and enjoy the steadfast love of our God, bask in it today, worship Him!
Steadfast love
Tuesday Link of the Week
This week's link is to a daily devotional from A W Tozer. Tozer was a pastor and author who died in 1863. Tozer is the author of 40 books including The Pursuit of God , which happens to be #1 on my list.
You can book mark this link, each day this link will take you to that day's thought for the day. They are quick and simple, but tend to stay with you if you engage them.
Tozer's Daily Devotional
You can book mark this link, each day this link will take you to that day's thought for the day. They are quick and simple, but tend to stay with you if you engage them.
Tozer's Daily Devotional
Thursday Link of the Week?
I know that Tuesday is the day that we do the link of the week. But I found this today and thought it would be of interest and timely to post now. It contains some history of Halloween and talks about a very important event that happened on Halloween day 1517.
Halloween and The Reformation
Halloween and The Reformation
An Exposition of Romans 5; Part 4
These expositions of Romans 5 have been rather lengthy so far. I am going to try to make this one very short. I am doing so not for the sake of making easier or more likely to be read. Instead it is being done because the point of verse 6 is simple and vital to come to grips with.
Romans 5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
In his book, “Commentary on Romans”, Martin Luther says, “He died at the time when we were still weak, that is, when we were neither righteous of sanctified, but helpless and lost.”
We are not capable of being reconciled to God on our own, so Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He became legs to a crippled man so that the man could walk to the love of God. He became eyes to the blind man so that he could see the beauty of God. He became ears to the deaf man so that he could hear the beautiful song of the Lord. He became breath to the dead man so that he might truly live.
Worship this Jesus today who died for you.
Romans 5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
In his book, “Commentary on Romans”, Martin Luther says, “He died at the time when we were still weak, that is, when we were neither righteous of sanctified, but helpless and lost.”
We are not capable of being reconciled to God on our own, so Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He became legs to a crippled man so that the man could walk to the love of God. He became eyes to the blind man so that he could see the beauty of God. He became ears to the deaf man so that he could hear the beautiful song of the Lord. He became breath to the dead man so that he might truly live.
Worship this Jesus today who died for you.
Tuesday Link of the Week
This is a great video by Josh Harris on why it's important to commit to a local church.
