We saw on Tuesday the story of Simeon, and what he said about Jesus bringing salvation available for all people. He picks up Jesus and says:
“for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
Simeon was considered a righteous and devout man. It would have been easy to rely on his good works for his salvation. Instead he goes and picks up a baby boy, and says this is the source of his salvation.
For him, that was a life-changing experience. We pray that Jesus’ arrival on earth is lifechanging for you too.
Through this series, we’re seen Jesus’ impact on the religious, powerful, poor, and next week, the wise.
If you are religious – beware of trying to earn your salvation, you will find yourself falling short every time and in despair. For you, Jesus’ birth brings hope. God came to you, you don’t have to get to God.
If you are powerful – beware of feeling like there are threats all around, and falling into fear. Jesus is your comfort. He is the true source of all power wherever it is exercised, and he can live in you and work through you to build kingdom of god, rather than your own kingdom.
If you are poor – you are probably aware of your reliance on God and God alone. It is easier to know you are spiritually poor when you are materially poor, as material wealth can obscure our need for help and salvation. Jesus represents spiritual riches offered freely to all of us, rich and poor, but so often rejected by the wealthy and accepted by the poor.
Whoever you are, God coming to earth reresents grace – a free gift from God you didn’t earn, didn’t force, and didn’t buy. It was a turning point in world. Will it be a turning point in your life?
Challenge: Explore Jesus this coming year – take Christianity 101 (info below), or get in touch with me for personal coaching.
Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.
Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting January 22nd. Register for you and a friend today!
Read the Bible in Sync Today
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We are beginning a new series on “Becoming Like Family” as our online community begin to share the daily challenges with friends, and we begin to gather our larger community together.
We want to have five main characteristics, and the first is to be bound together by some common learning experiences.
In October I attended my university’s homecoming reunion, and reconnected with a lot of friends. Our friendships were forged through four years in a common learning experience.
The same weekend, I went to a church where I’d done a student placement. There was personality, familiarity, and comfort there, too. We were gathered around a common purpose, to learn about and grow as followers of Jesus.
We want Redeemer Church to be that kind of community. Hard in suburbia, commutning, but we have our own unique way of pursuing a common learning experience through mobile apps, social media, and our web site.
Our next step is to become a network of groups, where we build strong relationships with existing friends and family members, where one of the things that binds us together is we are all learning the same things through discussion, challenge, encouragement and prayer.
Question: Who was your best learning group or team? What made it so?
Coffee Hours this Week:
Have questions about the challenges, do you want to meet others exploring the same content, or connect with Ryan?
Join us for our coffee shop drop-in this Wednesay, October 30th from 7:30pm-9:00pm at the Starbucks in the Ajax Chapters. Look for Ryan Sim in the drink line, or a Redeem the Commute postcard on a table.
If you know in advance that you’re coming, please RSVP here http://bit.ly/1aHVTy2
This series looks at becoming “like family” with others learning to follow Jesus. We're exploring how the church is not a building, institution or event, but a community of people. It's important that explore what church means as we prepare to launch a new church in Ajax in 2014.
