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God’s Face: Friend or Foe?
Exod 33:1-17
When you imagine God’s face, what do you see? A friendly face or an angry face? David prayed, “Hide your face from my sins… Cast me not away from your presence (face)” (Ps 51:9, 11). Many of us fear it’s the other way around: God hides his face from us but keeps our sins ever before his face. Maybe that’s because we’ve superimposed someone else’s face onto God’s face. For Moses, the Lord’s face (or presence) was all-important. The Lord used to talk with him face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Moses wanted that presence to go with the people of Israel, despite their great sin.
Satisfied In Him Alone
Exod 32:15-35 Satisfied in Him Alone. Jealousy is usually a negative trait, describing inappropriate longings. But there’s one situation in which jealousy is appropriate: a marriage. Once a couple marry, their affections belong within the marriage. Transferring them outside the marriage should arouse jealousy. Israel transferred its affections to a golden calf, breaking the second commandment. God forbids making and bowing down to an image in the likeness of anything because he is a Jealous God. His name, even, is Jealous. God has won our affections and bound our soul fast. He wants us to be able to say of him: my love he owns, I have no longings for another, I’m satisfied in him alone.
Prone To Wander
Exod 32:1-14
Maybe some of you have made New Year’s resolutions. You’ve embarked on the year with renewed resolve to be different, to be better, to try harder, to achieve some goal. But how long do such resolutions last? The Israelites were full of resolve when they entered into covenant with the Lord: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” We return to Exodus to see how the Israelites are doing in their resolve. On top of Mt. Sinai Moses has been in the Lord’s Presence, receiving instructions for the people: “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” We turn to the foot of the mountain where we find the people experiencing Absence not Presence. Their resolve to live a life of faith collapses and they demand something they can see. We all, like them, are prone to wander, and so we pray, “Bind my wandering heart to Thee.”
Breaching Walls and Building Bridges
Eph 2:11-18 For our New Year’s Eve Sunday services Brian Morgan will give us a preview of the preaching calendar for 2018. Living in an age of destructive prejudice and divisiveness, we need to know what our calling is as Christians. Are we prepared to take new territory? What enemies will we face? Who will guide us? And what strategy do we employ?
Christ and Salvation
Col 1:15-20 God was pleased to have all His fulness dwell in this baby in the manger! When God took on human form in the person of Jesus, everything changed forever, beginning with God making peace with humanity. This is the culmination of God’s saving plan – it’s amazing, it’s exciting, and it’s definitely worth celebrating!! Our Family-Friendly Celebration will include a play put on by our youth ministries, a short message wrapping up our Advent series, and, of course, many of your favorite Christmas songs.
Christ and New Creation
Col 1:15-20 Your desire for God and your capacity to connect with God as a human soul is the essence of who you are. And the place where that desire is met is in a person who makes visible and tangible the invisible and intangible God. God becomes human flesh in Jesus. “The Incarnation brings the world (God’s) presence. It is a presence so complete that it overshadows every presence before it.” (Carlos Caretto). If God isn’t like Jesus, he ought to be.
Christ and Creation
Col 1:15-20 This baby in the manger is the –
image of the invisible God
firstborn of all creation
creator of all things
the goal of all things
before all things
and in him, all things hold together.
It takes your breath away, but that’s
the magnificence of the incarnation!
Surpassing Love
Matt 5:43-48 Love my enemy? Give food to my enemy when he is hungry? Give drink when he is thirsty? Are you crazy, Jesus? But I want to throw the food and drink in his face…
Nothing is impossible with the Spirit of the Living God.
No Longer An Echo
Matt 5:38-42 How do we respond when people wrong us? Do we respond in kind? Do we give blow for blow? Are we simply echoes, returning hurt for hurt? This week we come to the fifth fulfiller, and Jesus teaches us that surpassing righteousness happens by overcoming evil with good. In doing so, we model what Jesus himself did in his passion. This is a seemingly impossible saying, but nothing is impossible when the Spirit of the Living God is involved.
Make Your Yes, Yes or No, No
Matt 5:33-37 This week, in the 4th “fulfiller”, Jesus takes on speech. At first it seems a bit anticlimactic. But aren’t right-relationships built upon and sustained by words? It turns out that authentic relationships only happen when we say what we mean and mean what we say. This integrity of speech is what causes our righteousness to surpass that of the religious authorities. Come Sunday to discuss how to make your yes, yes or your no, no.
A Guide to Prayer
Eph 3:14-21 How does Paul pray for the church at Ephesus and what can we learn from his prayer? This Sunday David Misson (youth pastor at Peninsula Bible Church Willow Glen) will preach from Ephesians 3:14-21 on finding fullness from God through prayer.
The Protector of Marriage
Matt 5:31-32 This week’s text is a natural follow-on from our study last week as Jesus will once again show that he is the protector of marriage. Divorce painfully breaks relationships and in order to surpass the righteousness of the religious authorities, we need to beware of a hardening heart and learn how to love sacrificially. It’s a love that models Jesus’ love for us when he went to the cross for us. It’s another tough word from Jesus, but remember, he says it because he loves us.