Read: Romans 8:1-17; 28
“God works all things together for our ultimate good. And our ultimate good is not a life of ease and this-worldly comfort. Our ultimate good is being right with God and growth in holiness and godliness. Our ultimate good has to do with growing in the knowledge of God and in faith and love and submission to God. Our ultimate good has to do with learning not to be overly attached to the comforts and pleasures of this life and learning to enjoy the greater and deeper pleasures of loving God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.”
“There is something very precious about belonging to Jesus Christ and belonging to God the Father. When we belong to God, we matter to God. Jesus bought us with a price. God the Father chose us to be his treasured possession. He has adopted us into his own family. We are important to God. We are significant to God. We are loved by God. Because we belong to him in these different ways we know that we have value in his sight. And this is something that matters a great deal.”
Read: Galatians 4:21-5:6
Read: Psalm 125
Read: Luke 1:67-79
“But through believing in Christ our sins are forgiven and we have peace with God. Through believing in Christ the power of sin is broken in our lives so that we are learning to live lives that please God. Through believing in Christ we are renewed so that we are learning to find our greatest joy in loving and worshipping and serving God. Through believing in Christ we receive eternal life – that is the life of the world to come. Through believing in Christ we know that death is not the end, but that we will rise from the dead and live with Christ in a renewed creation forever and ever. ”
Read: Luke 1:39-56
“Jesus came on a mission of mercy because he came to save us from our sins. God’s mercy has to do with saving us from our sins. We cannot understand or appreciate the meaning of the birth of Christ unless we understand this fact and unless the horror of sin and its consequences are real to us. Jesus came to live the life that we should have lived, and he came to die the death that we deserve so that our sins might be forgiven and so that the power of sin in our lives may be broken.”
Read: Luke 1:26-38
“A world in which everything is as it ought to be has been the longing of human beings for almost as long as the world has been around. But there are different visions for that and there are different perspectives on how that might be achieved. The birth of Jesus is at the heart of the biblical vision. And a key part of the biblical vision is that it is the only true vision – that is, the biblical vision is what will actually come into being at the end of the age.”
Read: Luke 1:5-25
“The underlying truth here is that sin is the cause of all misery and salvation from sin is the cause of the greatest possible joy. The underlying truth here is that separation from God is the cause of all misery and reconciliation with God is the cause of the greatest possible joy. This is what Advent and Christmas are all about for the people of God who are waiting for the coming of the Lord – both those who were waiting for the first coming and those who are now waiting for the second coming.”
“Jesus says that we are to do this in remembrance of him. We remember so that we do not forget. But remembering in the Bible is much more profound than that. By remembering we are actually taking part in the giving and receiving of the gospel. The past becomes a reality in the present. Jesus himself is with us offering himself and we are with him in receiving him by faith. It is symbolism, but it is pointing to something that is very real and very present.”
