Beacon Light Community Church

We are in the beginning stage of a 3-month series on the book of Philippians. Today's text is Philippians 1-3-11. --God in his grace has given us life in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is because of God that we are in Christ Jesus. Furthemore, it is by his grace that we are being conformed more and more to the image of Jesus. And what God has started, he will finish. One day we shall be like the one we love. We shall be like Jesus. What a comfort this is to our soul- - -Today, we will consider three major aspects of bearing the likeness of Christ- Love, Holiness and The Fruit of Righteousness. All of this is of God. To him be all the praise and glory.

The most beautiful word in the English language is -love.- Perhaps the second most beautiful word is -grace.- God is love, and God is gracious. Flowing out from the love of God is the grace of God. But what is grace- Tune into today's message and learn more about -The Grace of God-. May the Lord by his grace bless and strengthen your souls.

Today's sermon is titled, -Love One Another-. Not love your neighbor- not love your enemy- not even 'love others'. No. Today our message is simply, -Love One Another-. Jesus said that this is his commandment -John 13-34,35 - 15-12-. The Apostle John in 1st and 2nd John says again and again, -Love one another-. John says that this is a new and an old commandment. Love one another. We must stay focused. Tune in to see why our Lord Jesus and the Apostle John so strongly emphasize loving one another. You may be surprised. And who are the 'one anothers' in the first place-

At times we treat salvation on an individualistic scale when there's a far grander movement at play. One on a global scale. We must not neglect God's redemptive program of drawing all nations to himself through Christ. And in a microcosmic sense, we see this played out in Matthew 2-1-12. The Wise Men serve as a microcosm for the nations, to whom God makes Christ known. And we'll see that -1- the Nations are Called- -2-, the Nations Seek- and -3- the Nations Worship.

Happy New Year- 2021. Resolutions - Commitments- Pray more. Read the Bible more. Be more devoted to God and Jesus. Be more loving to my church family and my neighbor. Reach more souls for Christ. Be more actively aware of justice causes. Be more like Jesus. It's all good. Of course it is.--Nonetheless, perhaps we need to start the new year not with a resolution but rather with a consideration. A consideration of God's love for us. Ponder his perfect love for us. Meditate upon his unconditional love for us. Prayerfully be aware of his love that is in us. And then, drawing upon that internal, inexhaustible reservoir of God's love, let us joyfully, bravely, and resolutely go into 2021 and love as he loves us. We love because he first loved us.

We come to the conclusion of our Christmas Advent series, titled, -Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation-. Today we will look at where all of history is heading. All things in heaven and on earth are being united in Christ -Ephesians 1-10-.--Christmas. The celebration of the birth of our Savior. In Christ, we have received salvation. In Christ, we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. In Christ, we are restored to an eternal relationship with God our Father. All of this comes to us from our loving Father as a gift. God's grace. But the Apostle John says we have received more than grace- we have received grace upon grace. Blessing upon blessing. For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. -John 1-16-. Listen to this message describing how God's children, those who have received and believed in Jesus Christ -John 1-12-, fit into God's glorious plan for the ages. Merry Christmas.

God's calling upon our lives -as his people to love and serve the church- demands obedience to that call, and to deliberately ignore-disobey it in our sin has implications in our lives.--What can we learn through the story of Jonah to address this fallen condition in our lives- We'll first see the Price of Fleeing God's Calling -vv. 1-3-- and secondly, the Consequences of Ignoring God's Calling -vv. 4-16-.

It is by the grace of God that we have begun our life in Christ. And humbly depending on God, we must continue by grace to walk in Christ. To help us in this walk, we will consider the interplay of two gifts of grace, namely, faith and the Holy Spirit.

The nativity of our Lord Jesus is a setting filled with wonder. Yet, poignantly, a significant part of what makes the birthplace scene so wonderful is that looming ominously over the little body of our sinless savior is the shadow of a cross. Jesus, the Son of God, is also the Lamb of God. The Newborn King is also our Redeemer King. The Manger and the Cross are united into one story. The story of redemption. Come, listen in to this gospel message filled with pathos and joy and wonder. -Jesus - Our Redeemer King.-

In our Advent series considering Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation -Restoration-, Jared Luttjeboer reflects on Genesis 3 and the fall of man into sin. However, contained in this text we see a beautiful promise of the coming Seed of the woman - Jesus Christ - who will restore those who are dead...to life.