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Moving forward is sometimes a bit difficult especially when you’re not sure where to go. That’s when we need to dream God-sized dreams, to “Seize Tomorrow, Today!” As a follower of Jesus, you are called to look ahead and move forward in power, passion, and purpose. The good thing is, God always knows where you are going, and He has promised to never abandon you on your journey.
The Wisemen long ago were guided to the house where Jesus was in order to worship the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the light of the world. Let’s think about that Light. Light cannot be anything other than what it is. It's bright; it dispels darkness; it enables people to see what they are doing. If we look at the moon it glows, but it doesn’t glow because it has a light, it glows because the sun’s light is reflected by it upon the earth. When we follow Jesus, the Light of the world, we are to reflect His light in the world.
As we step into this new year, we can either dwell on what things we’ve left undone, what things took us down, and what things just didn’t realize in our lives OR we can stand tall, persevere, and walk firmly in Christ into the new year. Moving forward in Christ means that we walk into our Divine purpose, which God determines for us both individually and corporately as a Church. As we move in Christ, guess what? God moves closer toward us, in us, and through us.
Each and every day brings us closer to the return of Jesus Christ. Today, we celebrate in remembrance His birth in the fullness of time. When the exact time God-ordained, He came in order to set the captives free from sin. That is why we can throughout this season have joy, peace, and hope for Jesus came and is nearer than we realize. He is coming! Soon and very soon. We invite you to join us as we celebrate His coming and His return.
There is so much joy in taking a trip. The excitement builds as you prepare along the way to the destination. If you’re ready, we’ll be taking a trip this weekend to see the joy that surrounds the One who we adore, Jesus the Christ. From Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds, the Disciples, the ones Jesus healed, and the resurrection— Jesus gives us the reason to have joy, this day and every day. Join us as we once again discover the Joy of Jesus.
This Sunday we mark the start of the Second Week in Advent— the Light of Hope. As believers, we live in hope. We have hope because we know Jesus and the power of his love that has transformed our lives. As we gather together, we will also be celebrating Holy Communion remembering the sacrifice given, the love offered to all people, the forgiveness of sins given, and the life yet to come. That is where hope dwells.
This Sunday Advent begins. We start it off with a new 4-Week Sermon and Study Series called, The Fullness of Time. Let us take this time to prepare our hearts and homes to once again remember the reason for the season— Jesus Christ come to earth to set the captives free. Isn’t that worth waiting for? We tend to not like to wait. It’s like being a kid waiting for Christmas morning to arrive. Sometimes waiting seems to take so long. We know Jesus was worth the wait. He came and will return. Let our hope, joy, and love grow as we begin this Advent Season.
Do you know our lives are to reflect the thankful heart we have for what God has done? We ought to desire to walk into His presence with singing because of what Jesus has done— He saved us, He redeemed us, He called us His own! That is worth giving God all the praise and thanksgiving for working in each of our lives. As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, let us remember the cost and give thanks to God for His hand of mercy and grace upon our lives.
As followers of Christ, there was a time in each of our lives when we surrendered to Christ. We gave Him our all, we were all in for His purpose and plan for our lives as individuals and as the Church. Jesus made it clear that commitment was a key part of being a follower of Christ. In the Gospels, we see many examples of people who followed Jesus because of what they hoped He could offer them, yet, He consistently challenged them to “count the cost” of following Him. We’re going to look at the call on the Christian life to be committed to Christ, His Word, the church, prayer, worship, and His mission. We’ll see that before God calls us to commit to Him in this way, He’s already committed to us.
We end our series on Understanding Spiritual Gifts this Sunday as we gather together to celebrate Holy Communion. Through this series, we’ve discovered that our spiritual gifts are given by God, used for His glory, and each one of us has a different one to build up the Body of Christ. Now that we know that, what are we going to do about it? Each one of us has a passion, something that burns inside of us to do, a heart to change our world. That fire is connected to the use of our gifts for the glory of God.
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