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Luke 2:8-14 – The Birth of Jesus

The arrival of Jesus was heralded — brought to the public — not by royal heralds, or people of honor, or by mayors or kings or bishops, rabbis or religious people.

This holy announcement was brought to the people by people who lived on the margins of society.

This is evidence and demonstration that God CARES about those that live on the outer edges of our society. He wanted them to be not just included, but honored in his arrival story.

The significance of this cannot be overstated. God desires to draw all people — ALL PEOPLE — into his redemption. Let’s look at this together!

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Isaiah 9:6 – The Promise of a Savior

As we approach the Christmas season, we are looking at Christ, our PROMISED savior.

Isaiah gives us hope — seven hundred years before his birth. He declares the birth of Jesus, reminding us that while we don’t see the full plan, there *is* a plan. Things may feel in despair and hurt, but God sees you. God knows you. God HAS a plan.

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Matthew 5:17-20 – Jesus and the Law

Christ tals directly about the law. Not Canadian laws, or US laws or worldly laws. God’s law — The old rabinical law of the Torah.

If Jesus is the Messiah, then he came to uphold the law, right? But so much of what Jesus did upturned the religious establishment of it’s day (and his teachings should continue to do that today!)

Let’s look at how Jesus directs us to adhere to the law, rules and God’s direction for our lives.

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Matthew 5:13-16 – Influencing the World

You *ARE* the light of the world. This is an amazing thing. Daunting, too. How do we infuse our world differently than the world itself?

God has chosen to use us to spread the good news of the Gospel of Jesus, the savior of the world. Let’s sit down and talk about what that looks like.

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Matthew 5:1-12 – The Beatitudes

Today we dive into Jesus teaching about blessings. In the past, “God’s blessing” was tied to prosperity, and in SOME places today, that’s still the perceived truth. If your finances stink, God is punishing you. But if you are wealthy, then God has “blessed” you.

But that’s not what Jesus taught.

He taught that blessed are the meek, poor in spirit, oppressed, etc. Let’s look at this in detail this morning.

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Genesis 18:10-15 : Abraham and Sarah

We all struggle with faith. But Sarah and Abraham show how God is still moving, even when we struggle. OUR struggle doesn’t LIMIT God. Read that again… The fact that you have a point of contention doesn’t limit the beauty and power that God has, even for you. Let’s talk about that.

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Genesis 6:13-22 – Faithfulness to God’s Call

God doesn’t call us to do something, then abandon us mid-task. Think on that.

It took Noah many, many, many years to build this boat. Scripture doesn’t say that he worked on it the whole 120 years. Maybe he took a few years to take a break. Maybe he didn’t. But whether Noah took breaks or not, God’s call was ALWAYS on his life. He didn’t call Noah half-way into this process then tell him “Nah, fam. Nevermind. You’re taking too long.” And God’s plan would not be shaken, even with Noah’s shortcomings. God knew, planned and orchestrated it all.

And what people said about Noah? Unimportant. God’s plan didn’t change.

And the details of the moment, that it had never produced significant quantities of water prior to this moment? Also unimportant. God’s plan didn’t change.

That’s what God is trying to remind us today as we look at his word. He loves you and his plan for you has not changed. He KNOWS where you will fall short. And that’s okay. His plan has already accounted for that. Will you be faithful to God’s call? Will you step back onto the path of faith that he etched into your ground?

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2 Corinthians 5:16-20 – New Creations in Christ

How good is God? Well… he knows how important reconciliation is. After all, that was the ENTIRE reason Jesus came to earth — to reconcile us to God. But in echo of that, Ben didn’t even know, as he laid out his plans, that this sermon would land on this date. But God did, and it’s little things like this that remind me that God is sovreign over all our mistakes.

Reconciliation is more than a word to us. It is an understanding that we are all messed up. But God still loves us and chooses to reconcile with us. And in that divine transaction, we are made new creations. Let’s look at that a bit closer today.

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Galatians 5:22-25 – God Transforms Us

This is all about the FRUIT (singular) of the spirit.

What are the qualities of Christ living within us?

This hit me hard. Think of an apple that you’d want to eat and that is meant to sustain you: Crunchy, Firm, Juicy, Sweet (sometimes balanced with tart/sour), Refreshing, Fragrant

If you don’t have ONE of those attributes — if the apple isn’t Firm, for example — is it still an edible apple? What if it’s not refreshing–dry and dehydrated? Is it still something good for us to consume?

Now look at your own life and measure that against these qualities of the fruit that the Holy Spirit should be cultivating in you. Is the fruit your life produces in line with this list? Let’s discuss that!

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Romans 12:1-2 – Renewing the Mind

HOW does God transform us? WHAT should be the signs of this most powerful transformation going on in our lives? It starts with the renewing of our minds. This word “renew” isn’t about renewing our lease, or renewnewing our subscription to Apple Music. This is about “Making a thing NEW, clean, whole, transformed… for a second time.”

RE-NEW.

Does this describe your mind? Is it something NEW? Is it something whole? Let’s talk about that.