Book: Hebrews

Without repentance, our hearts can grow hard & will turn away from God. Sin is deceitful & will trick you into thinking you are safe to continue living however you want. If there is any relational distance between God & you due to sin, drop everything that stands in your way & restore your relationship.

On the cross, God with us died for us. The One who was present was now absent. The Word that became flesh & died became the Savior who rose again & was glorified.
God came near but is still far. God came to our present but remains in our future. Jesus is the antidote to absence.

We want a Jesus who accepts the life we like to live. We want a Jesus who blesses us with material goods. So, we shape Him into our likes. But when we form Jesus into our own image, He is not Jesus. When we make Jesus present in our image, Immanuel may become absent.

So if you need to answer the question, Is God present at my church? ask yourself the question, Are there Christ-followers at church? If there are, then Christ is there. As the church loves one another, God abides in us, & we can see & experience Christ in one another.

The presence offered through a relationship with Jesus is what we most require while on this earth & what we need when we leave it.

Essential NOT Optional Ephesians 2:8-10, Hebrews 11;1, 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17

Jesus, our King, our Priest came to serve us. The lesson of the Lord’s Supper is the bread and wine. The bread represents Jesus’ body that was broken for us.

Through Christmas, we are reminded in the most remarkable way imaginable that God is active, even when it seems like He’s not that God.