This past week, Hello Mornings, began their Advent Study > True Light For Everyone: Celebrating Jesus, the Light of the World. The study will be looking at the Christmas story from the promises of the coming Messiah to the prophecies which Jesus fulfilled. Over the next six weeks, I’ll share thoughts from each week of study.
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We cannot deny how dark the world is becoming. In John 1:1-13, we find the reminder that Jesus is the light. He shines into the darkness and the dark can never extinguish it (verse 5).
This should fill our hearts with such hope. There will never be a day that His Light will not be able to shine into the darkness and expel it.
Jesus can expel the darkness of our world, and the darkness in our situations.
Sometimes it’s good to read a familiar verse in a less familiar to you version of the Bible:
“For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.”
(John 3:16, AMP)
Here John states, in a most beautiful and simple way, the reason Jesus was sent. May our hearts see this anew.
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In Genesis 17:15-21, we find God confirming His covenant with Abraham. While the promise seemed unbelievable, impossible really, Abraham and Sarah were told they would bear a child of their own.
Through Sarah people in every part of the world, and for all time, would be blessed.
The study points out how each of us are meant to be conduits of God’s blessing by which we bless those around us.
Think about it: in this dark world, we can share the Light and bless others. Even if it is just one.
How does the story of Abraham and Sarah touch your heart?
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We closed the first week in this study with reading Genesis 21:1-7. Let this capture your thoughts:
“The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised.” (verse 1, NLT)
The birth of Isaac should remind us that God keeps His promises in His own way and in His own time.
Warren Wiersbe in his commentary, brings out this point:
Isaac’s birth meant:
*the rewarding of patience
*the revelation of God’s power
*the accomplishing of God’s purpose
Waiting is not easy to do as it does not come easily to our human instincts. Yet there is always purpose in waiting.
What are you waiting on at this time?
The study asks: What have you learned about the Abrahamic Covenant and how it relates to Jesus?
Let’s be faithful as we wait, remembering the Lord is faithful to His Word.
~*~*~
In this darkened world
as the true Light gives light,
we are able to share the light
for He is always faithful to His Word.
Graphics by Megan Della Tingle.
Today I am joining … Tell His Story and Purposeful Faith and InstaEncouragements .
I am so looking forward to quiet heart preparation for Advent this year. Thanks for getting me started.
I have so been looking to the Advent season this year 🙂
Joanne, the darker the world becomes, the brighter the light of the true meaning of Christmas will shine! I love how you went back to the OT. For so long I have concentrated only on Luke 2, but this year, more than ever, I am thinking the true meaning of Christmas began way back in Genesis 3 with the fall of man. I want people not just to understand HOW Jesus came, buy WHY.
Thanks for linking up at InstaEncouragements!
Please note, it is not me who went back to the OT but the study from Hello Mornings. It is a wonderful study, as each of theirs is, and I will be sharing each week from the study. I so agree with you – may we gt back to why Jesus came and realize how desperately we need a Savior. Blessings!
Joanne, this will be a good study for me. In a season with a lot going on with active boys, gearing up for Christmas travel and all the holiday preparations, these posts will help me keep my focus where it should be: Jesus. I really like the picture of us being conduits of God’s love.
Jeanne, it is a wonderful study offered by Hello Mornings. I will be sharing weekly my thoughts after each week of study. May it bless you!