ADVENT SEASON 2023

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  What does it actually look like to interact with God?  Is there a pattern given in Scripture for what real encounters with the living God looks like?  Isaiah's commissioning story in Isaiah 6 gives us a clear understanding of how the glorious Creator interacts with his creatures.  See also 2 Chronicles 26.  This is the pilot message for our new sermon series.  We are looking at why the different parts of a Sunday morning are important and how the historical Church has understand: prayer, scripture reading, tithes and offerings, music, sermon, the Lord's Supper, etc. How can we, like the faithful Church in history craft our entire Sunday morning to focus upon Jesus' grace and his gospel?  How can we come as broken sinners and leave as emboldened servants being sent out?

What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?  Why do we do it?  Is it just a formality or a magic word?  Why do we pray corporately on Sunday mornings?  If you do not feel that your prayers are good enough, that you might not be heard by God, you need to hear the Bible's perspective on praying in Jesus' name.    Hebrews 4:14-5:10, Luke 22:39-46.

  Why do we sing on Sunday mornings?  How important is music to the Christian faith?   We are using Psalm 23 as a template for Christian Worship.  David says "me, my, I" 17 times but only "you and he" (speaking of God) 7 times.  Does this mean that we need to focus more on ourselves or on God?  What type of worship pleases God?  What type of worship grows us?  Exodus 14:23-15:21, Exodus 32:11-14, Numbers 14:13-19.

Symbols are simple concrete words, pictures, or ideas which powerfully represent deeper more significant realities.  When we eat a little piece of bread an drink a little bit of wine on Sunday morning, what is it representing?  Why is it so important that Jesus commands us to do it in remembrance of him?  What if an idol is standing in the way of the life God has for me?  Would I even be able to identify and dethrone this imposter?  How can Communion help here? 1 Cor 10:14-22.

A how to message on how to grow through the Bible.  We often don't take the steps from our head to our heart to our hands to our habits with the Bible.  What good is it to hear revolutionary ideas but never act on them?  Faith comes from hearing about the alternative reality of God's kingdom.  When we believe it deep enough that we bring it all the way into our lives, when we are so loyal to an idea that we transform our world to conform to its reality. . . that is where true growth happens in the Christian walk.  Steve walks through the story in Matthew 9:9-13 and explains the questions he asked the Holy Spirit as he moved from head to heart to hands with the truth Jesus presents.    The 12 questions are available at: abchapel@shaw.ca.

What does God think about me?  What do we expect from God when we pray?  What should we expect from God relationally?  Jesus clearly lays it out for us in his Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  God will only respond to us favourably to us if we respond appropriately to him.  If we don't think we need his help, he is not interested in providing any!  God will not despise a broken and contrite spirit, but he hates the pride of self-sufficiency.  Luke 18:9-14.