All Things New ~ Week 3 by St. Johns Church of God

All Things New ~ Week 2 by St. Johns Church of God

All Things New~ Week 1 by St. Johns Church of God

Pray for your family, friends, and community this Christmas. Ask for the peace of the Lord to be made known to all.

Read Isaiah 9:6

Focus on the title “Everlasting Father”.

What does it mean to be everlasting?

Consider why this description of God is important.

Connect everlasting with the idea of permanence. How does permanence impact decision making?

God makes Himself known as Father.

Consider why God would choose the family word as a descriptor of His nature and relationship with us.

A good father is a protector and provider. A good father is motivated by love for his children.

Read Matthew 7:7-11 – What kind of Father is our Lord?

When you apply “Everlasting Father” to the context of our lives in this world the result is peace.

In the Everlasting Father we find completion, fulfillment, wholeness, unity, harmony, safety, and order. This is the Biblical picture of peace.

Peace is our reality. Peace is known among God’s people.

Read John 14:27 – Peace is a gift that God gives us.

This Christmas. How can we pursue peace? How can the peace of God find root in your life and family? Accept the gift of peace and do not be afraid.

Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Spend some time in prayer giving thanks for the wonder and awe you find in God’s presence and work.

Read Isaiah 9:6

Consider the word wonderful.

Wonderful is not common. It is not casual. Something wonderful is unusual, surprising, and shocking.

Our wonderful God gave a child to Abraham’s wife Sarah long after she was unable to have children.

Our wonderful God rescued His people from captivity in Egypt.

Our wonderful God sent His son amongst us as one of us.

In what ways have you personally experienced our wonderful God?

Consider the word counselor.

To counsel is to provide a plan, a new way of thinking, a new will.

Counsel is everywhere. Think about all the different counsels we are given each and every day.

The Lord’s counsel is eternal and mysterious. He knows what we do not.

God’s will is centered is God’s love. Neither of these can be taken away.

How have you experienced the counsel of the Lord?

Consider the manger

A birth in an unlikely place, acknowledge by common shepherds.

Unusual, centered in love, and life changing. Christ enters.

In what practical ways does the coming of Christ impact your life daily?

Pray for this Christmas season. Ask God to open your eyes and ears to His presence and work in your life.

Read Isaiah 9:6

• To who was the child born to? If this child is a gift, than what does that gift entail?

• Consider the word “authority”. Notice that this authority is not given. It simply is.

• Reflect on Christ as the authority. What significance does this truth have?

Isaiah writes inside of a context to a real people in a real situation at a real time. The promise of God with us is not an abstract idea. It fundamentally impacts the real lives of people.

• King Ahaz is under siege. He is in trouble and his armies are losing battles. He refuses to even seek a sign from the Lord.

• Isaiah is a prophet sent by God into a world that has closed its eyes and plugged its ear to the Lord.

• The world needed a true message of hope, but was unable to hear it.

How different are we? How willing are we to accept and live in the authority of God, trusting Him in our context?

• King Ahaz ignored God and led his people into darkness.

• Isaiah kept the faith and pointed people to the light and hope of Christ.

• What holds your hope today?

Spend some time in prayer

• Ask the Lord to help you examine your life to see His impact on you.

• Seek guidance in how you can live more like Jesus.

Read John 8:31-32

• Notice the If/than nature of this passage. It is not just “the truth will set your free”. “Continuing in my word” impacts freedom in truth.

• Consider how belief is connected to action. Those who believe will continue in His word and be His disciples.

• What is the way of Jesus?

Early Christians were known for how they lived. What they did had greater impact than what they said.

• The way of Jesus is not complicated. As forgiven people, we forgive others. Forgiveness is a better way than resentment and anger.

• The way of Jesus is the path to rest/peace. His yoke is easy.

• The way of Jesus is honest and seeks reconciliation. We deal with the struggles we face. Reconciliation is a better way than division.

The goal is not knowledge. It is life. To find life we have to trust God. Jesus is inviting us to try life this way. To take a leap of faith.

Everybody believes in something. Everybody has a belief system. What is yours? The way of Christ leads us to be in tune with how God created this world and all of us to live. Leap into Him.

Spend some time in prayer

• Confess your relationship with God as it is.

• Give thanks to God as the Holy Spirit leads.

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:13b-18

• Notice the simple clarity Paul gives the people of Thessalonica. Simple commands that reflect what it means to live well.

• Consider what the will of God is and how it compares to our will.

• Pay attention to how peace is accomplished among God’s people.

• When are we to do good, rejoice, pray, and give thanks?

Patience and peace are connected.

• Peace requires action. It cannot just be wishful thinking.

• How patient are we? How patient would others say that we are?

• The way we deal with the idle, the fainthearted, and the weak teaches us about our willingness to pursue peace in Christ.

Thanksgiving is the glue that holds us together.

• Joy, prayer, and thanksgiving are imperatives. They are needed.

• Thanksgiving comes from sacrifice, confession, and praise. It informs all other areas of life. Thankful people find joy, pray, and community.

God sees the heart. Does He see a thankful heart in us?

Do we know the value of Christ, who we are, and what is around us?

Spend some time in prayer

• Pray for awareness and opportunity to make disciples.

• Pray for people who you sense God leading you to impact.

Read Luke 10:1-6

• Pay attention to how Christ sends out His disciples. Who do they go with? What are they to take with them? What should they do?

• Notice that the task isn’t easy. Jesus sends His chosen as “lambs into the midst of wolves”. What do you think about that?

• Consider what is going on with the “Peace to this house!” instruction. How does that phrase shape this evangelistic effort?

• Consider the harvest and laborers truth. What is the harvest? Who are the laborers? How does the Lord of the harvest operate?

Jesus sent His disciples in search of “People of peace”.

• People of peace are those who were receptive to the message the disciples carried.

• The disciples went ahead of Jesus. He sent them to prepare the way for His arrival. Still, God was at work in the people the disciples would find.

• The disciples and Jesus didn’t force the issue. Where they were not received the “shook the dust from their feet” and moved on.

Evangelism isn’t a program or a system we are trained in. Disciples aren’t made with a single prayer. How should we do evangelism today?