Saturday 1 November 2014

Day 1: Pause, Ponder & Prepare

Welcome to our 25 day Advent study and Advent Calendar which we are preparing through November to be able to use in December.   Each day has a Bible Study related to Advent, a worship video, a passage telling the Christmas Story and a Bible verse to ise on your Advent Calendar.  You can download the PDF with today's study and verses here.

Advent Study 
'At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and gret glory.  When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.' Luke 21:27-28

An “Advent” is about the preparation, anticipation, and expectation of something that is coming. Every Advent season, Christians look forward to celebrating the day when love was born – the day our Savior, Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem.

We can’t exactly say what people did in expectation of Christ’s first coming, except that it may be like our awaiting the time of His return. Jesus tells us that His second coming will be preceded by all kinds of anguish, perplexity, and terror. These are not the sorts of things that give us hope, but Jesus tells us to stand up in hope because our redemption is near. It takes great faith to be hopeful when it seems like the whole world is falling apart all around you. Such faith does not come by accident; instead it comes from God. This faith is also often strengthened by the very hope that sees us through pain and suffering.

We prepare during the season of Advent so that our faith can be strengthened in the confidence that our redemption is near. As we pause to prepare for the annual celebration of the Savior’s birth, we live in confidence that Christ Jesus has redeemed us and no matter what chaos is going on in the world He will come to rescue us from it.

Prayer
God, thank you for bringing joy to the world by sending your son, Jesus, to take away the punishment for my sins so I can have a relationship with you. I am grateful that you are always in control and you give me hope. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Ponder
Let your mind wander to your memories of Christmas as a child, the excitement, lights, colors, etc.  How do you compare the anticipation you had about Santa and getting gifts with your anticipation of the coming of Jesus Christ?


Worship Video



Christmas Story 
1 John 1:1-5
The Incarnation of the Word of Life
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.   The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.  We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  We write this to make our joy complete.

Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 

Bible Verse 
1 John 1:5
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.


You can see our creative responses at AdoreHimCreations and NewlyCreative.

Don't forget to share your work by adding a link to your page, flickr or blog using the linky below.

6 comments:

  1. Oh, I can not see the video. What a pitty. I love Michael. W. Smith! (It is because of a leagal thing in Germany.)

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    1. The legal thing is annoying isn't it. Can you look the song up some other way?

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  2. Loved the video. What a great song and message to lead our hearts and minds into the Advent season. Preparing the way in our own hearts is so important if we want to help prepare the way for others to meet the Lord. Thank you for all of the hard work you have done to prepare this for us.

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  3. Love the drums in that music video, very powerful!

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  4. I agree, love the drums. Thanks to everyone who has set this up for the world to share <3

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  5. What a powerful worship video, so relevant for the beginning of our advent study. Thank you for this devotional emphasis for our first day.

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