The 6th Day of Christmas, 1st Sun of Christmas Dec 30, 2012

Merry CHRISTmas! We are still in the Christmas Season. Next Sunday we will celebrate Epiphany on January 6th. Even though the world has moved on we have 12 days to remember a number of important events in Jesus' life as Emmanuel born in Bethlehem. We hear about His Circumcision and His naming on the 8th Day which is on January 1st. We just celebrated the remembrance of the Holy Innocent's on Friday and we remember the Purification sacrifice this Sunday in our Gospel Lesson as well as the Holy Families journey to Egypt etc... A lot to do in 12 days!

This Sunday we hear about 2 wonderful saints who were faithful and had been faithfully waiting for God to keep HIS promise of a MESSIAH! We meet Simeon and Anna when Joseph and Mary go to the temple to sacrifice for the birth of their firstborn son who they will, by old testament law, dedicate to the Lord...We hear the joy and peace of Christmas in the words of both Simeon and Anna:

Luke 2
²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.
²² When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”^[b]), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”^[c]
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you now dismiss^[d] your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹     which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles
    and for glory to your people Israel.”

³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
³⁶ There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷ and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.^[e] She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸ Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
³⁹ When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

We will celebrate the truth of these confessions of faith as we look to the end of Colossians 3 as St. Paul is concluding his teaching on the Supremacy of Christ and the truth of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Christ and Christ dwelling in us! He is dealing with a heresy of Judaisers who are trying to tell the Gentiles (non-Jews) that they have to become Jews in order to fully and completely be Christians. St. Paul has fought St. Peter, the church in Jerusalem etc.. to keep this from becoming the truth of Christ's Church. The Gentiles are to be grafted into the Vine by being who they are and not become Jews in order to be accepted by Christ. Just as the Lord welcomed the Samaritans and others in His earthly ministry HIS Church should be a reflection of HIS Grace and MERCY! So we hear a great theological exhortation in chapter 1 and 2 of this letter to the Church in Colosse. In chapter 3, St. Paul is concluding his exhortation by telling us that since we have Christ in us we therefore cast off the earthly things and know who we are. We have been teaching this in the Covenant lessons the Father gives us our identity and therefore we are obedient because of who we are in God not in order to gain our identity! Listen to his conclusion:

Colossians 3
¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

What a wonderful conclusion! He then goes on to show some practical application for the word of Christ dwelling in us in regards to how we act as husbands and wives, in all our words and deeds. It is an amazing understanding that we are saved by grace and therefore because of we are chosen and the word of Christ dwells in us we live thankful and faithful lives.

May we let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts and the word of Christ dwell in us richly! Merry Christmas!

Love in Christ, our Emmanuel (God with US)
Pastor Bryan 

Merry Christmas! December 24, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

From our FAMILY to YOURS: “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Tonight we celebrate the truth of the Coming of the KING in Bethlehem! We recognize the gift of our Savior born this night! We hear the words from Isaiah 9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.⁷ Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

This is also a time to celebrate what the Lord has done, is doing and will do! This year has brought a great amount of wonderful gifts to our Cross and Resurrection Family. As we strive to be A FAMILY FOR YOU! BELONG, BELIEVE, BECOME! We recognize that the Lord is building us to be who HE wants us to BE…

Our Church Family has many things to be thankful for on this Christmas Eve. First, the new Fellowship Hall has added a tremendous blessing to our programs! Second, the New Kitchen is a huge improvement. The sign is wonderful! New things are happening and the Lord is blessing us! We have the work by all of our GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANTS: our Elders, Church Council, Trustees, Sunday School/Confirmation teachers, Nursery Workers, 12:15 Sunday Bible Study Leaders, Prayer Teams, Healing Ministry leaders /volunteers, Soaking Prayer Team, Youth/College Ministry leaders, cleaners/kitchen volunteers, Altar Guild workers, Lectors, Acolytes, Ushers, Children Sermon presenters, Worship Team members, Greeters, AVL Volunteers, Ann Street Music Room Team, Lunch providers, ESL Teachers, Ladies Retreat Leaders, Homeless Shelter week helpers, Care givers for our sick and homebound, UPWARD Camp coaches & volunteers, Bible Study Leaders (Laura for the Women’s Study and Steve for the Men’s Breakfast), ALIVE! Lenawee County Site small group Leaders and volunteers etc… (I did not try to name everyone, lest I miss someone, although I believe I could as I pray for you all and am SO very thankful for your faithful service!) For our Staff: Vicar Paul has started the Specific Ministry Pastor program and has now, with Jet taking the admin work, thrown himself into the Family and College Ministry area. This is a huge task when you consider that the responsibilities of the job are full time (50-60 hours) plus his SMP (15-20 hrs), plus family with a new baby girl arriving in March, plus Upward etc… Johannes has gone part time working here as well as at Superior Text. He serves faithfully with our Worship Teams, AVL, Ann Street, IT, etc… We had a transition happen when Johannes went part time and Paul started SMP we brought on Jet Whiting as our Administrator. This meant we restructured and replaced my assistant Deaconess Joanne with Jet. We are so thankful for Joanne’s faithful service and are VERY thankful that she continues to serve as a faithful volunteer mentioned in the list above. We are thankful for Norma Polk as our intern with the EIIT Deaconess program. She is taking a few months off, but I hope we will see her finish the program. We are so thankful for Beth and Dave Marshall, our Family Life Ministers for their wonderful service. Thanks to Joe Kosel who is setting up the Prayer Team. We are thankful to Jim Ross and Marsha, Rosemary Fry and others who help us with healing ministry. This means so much to me as I am a thankful receiver of miraculous healing. With the Family of Christ nights on Wednesdays, we are thankful for the work that is done with the studies and the ESL class led by Carol Hart and the volunteers. Thanks so much!

The Lord has been guiding us to change things this year. We have had a good year including: 1 Confirmation, 2 weddings from C&R, (others who were students) 5 new members, 0 transfers out, and 7 baptisms. We had a full year with many additions to the family, not included in these stats. We were blessed with many new additions to our worship services and other activities! We have a new confirmation class that is large for us. The Christmas Pageant has the largest cast yet and we continue to see growth in our Sunday School Classes! We are seeing growth as a church family and we are so thankful for all the servant leaders! We will have our first Huddle for our Servant Leaders group on Feb 8^th and 9^th. May God richly bless us as we move forward aligning our will with HIS WILL!  We have really exciting opportunities before us in the next few years!

We continue to pray for our Lord’s will in the work HE is doing at ALIVE! Our site in Lenawee County. We meet at least once a month. This changed in the summer when we went away from every Sunday services to emphasizing the desire to be a missional community: putting our time and energy into small group studies and service. We go out monthly to have a time together called MASS: Motivation, Accountability, Sacrament & Sharing. Please pray for the Lord to show us what HE wants us to do with these faithful servants who want to impact their county.

On our personal family side of things we are very thankful for the support, prayers and love we receive from our church family! We are so thankful to be serving at Cross and Resurrection. I was telling someone at Rotary that I think I was born to serve here! I have loved serving the Lord in the harvest fields as a youth pastor around Camrose, then a Vicar in Dryden, ON and my first Call in Saskatchewan and then in British Columbia! There has always been amazing faithful servants and loving people of God in these parishes. I just always wanted to be able to share my Spiritual gifts in an environment where all of us ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE ARE COVENANT PEOPLE:  (our Father has given us our identity and we are obedient because of who we are) and WE EXPECT THE KINGDOM: (we know our King has come and HE gives us HIS authority to EXPECT signs and wonders as we walk by HIS POWER!) At Cross and Res I feel completely free to exercise the “Charismata” or “manifestation gifts” of 1 Cor. 12! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING A SAFE AND FAITH FILLED FAMILY FOR US!

We also have gone through exciting and challenging experiences this year. We rejoiced as our NEW grandson JOSIAH JOSHUA BRUDI was born on my birthday, Sept 3! We had a great time at Lake Charlevoix with Bruce and then in St. Ignace after Josiah was born. We just celebrated our first grandson LEVI’s first birthday in November! What an amazing boy, I got to babysit him in Sept when I went to Alberta and BC. This was a joy filled time but also sad since I left the Bible School Board of Directors on which I had served for over 15 years! But I am helping with SEND North America in Indiana, so I am just changing to a closer opportunity to serve. I taught there this year and will in 2013. Patrick Tincher and Peter Comella are the students from Cross & Res, so we hope to have a SEND Unit here at EMU in the future.

We have had other losses this year as we lost a member of our family, Peter Campbell, in October. Laura, BEN and I were at the Pastor’s Conference on Mackinaw Island so this was a traumatic experience for everyone as Josh found him and we were away! Thank you to all who served us in this time of loss! We expect it to take this next year, as we go through all of the family events without him for us to get back to a sort of normal.

Timothy, Meagan and Levi are doing well in Golden, BC. Josh, Sarah and Josiah are going to be around for at least the next 4 years as we rejoice, that even though Josh was accepted at 3 Dental Schools as of now, he is going to go to Detroit Mercy. Sarah will still teach Music for Young Children in our house. Annaliese continues to be busy with music, home school coop and she had a great mission trip to Costa Rica. Annaliese has finished her driver’s education and in the spring she will be able to drive herself and Bethany to music lessons, Bright lights and IFire, as well as run errands. Bethany and Hannah are busy with school, community band, as well as many other activities. Hannah just started to take gymnastic classes. Charity, Trinity and Mercy are doing well, with them all having birthdays around Christmas, we are going to be doing a lot of skating and celebrating! Charity, Trinity and Jeremiah are in Music for Young Children. Charity is in Art Class and the older girls help with MOPS at St. Luke. The boys: Jeremiah and BEN are growing fast. Jeremiah and the younger girls got to go hunting with Josh, this made them very happy. BEN is crazy about any type of ball that he can throw. The girls are busy sewing and Jeremiah is enjoying lego and play mobil. It is a very busy time at Christmas. We were so proud to have all of the children from Sarah to BEN and Josiah in the Christmas Pageant yesterday. Josiah was Baby Jesus! Laura and I are so BLESSED! Thanks again for your prayers, help, support and encouragement! We truly love serving our Lord at Cross and Resurrection!

From both our Church Family and the Schindel Family to all of you: “A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A BLESSED HAPPY NEW YEAR!!”

As the Angels declared outside of Bethlehem so long ago: “Let us Celebrate the Savior of ALL and be reconciled to God!!” Luke 2:⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Please join us to Celebrate the 12^th Day of Christmas and Epiphany Eve for a skating party at Burr Park on Packard Road in Ann Arbor, 12 noon on Saturday Jan. 5!

Love in Christ, the true reason for CHRISTmas,       

Pastor Bryan, Laura and Family

Anticipate the Prophecy! 3rd Sun in Advent: Dec. 16, 2012

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today we begin the week in our Anticipate Devotion looking at Zephaniah, whose name means "the Lord hides" or "the Lord protects" who prophesied during the 640-600 BC times. He is a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah and is called upon to proclaim judgement on the unfaithful people in leadership of Judah and those reigning in Jerusalem. It is important to note even though his first two chapters of prophecy are spent in condemnation he does not hear from the Lord only hopelessness. He ends his prophecy with a declaration for all of us to hear as people who belong to God in Christ Jesus and know the redemption and promise of the King who came in Bethlehem and will come again to take us home.

We hear in the lesson from Zephaniah chapter 3:

¹² But I will leave within you
    the meek and humble,
    who trust in the name of the Lord.
¹³ The remnant of Israel will do no wrong;
    they will speak no lies,
    nor will deceit be found in their mouths.
They will eat and lie down
    and no one will make them afraid.”

¹⁴ Sing, O Daughter of Zion;
    shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
    O Daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵ The Lord has taken away your punishment,
    he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
    never again will you fear any harm.
¹⁶ On that day they will say to Jerusalem,
    “Do not fear, O Zion;
    do not let your hands hang limp.
¹⁷ The Lord your God is with you,
    he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
    he will quiet you with his love,
    he will rejoice over you with singing.”

¹⁸ “The sorrows for the appointed feasts
    I will remove from you;
    they are a burden and a reproach to you.^[c]
19 At that time I will deal
    with all who oppressed you;
I will rescue the lame
    and gather those who have been scattered.
I will give them praise and honor
    in every land where they were put to shame.
²⁰ At that time I will gather you;
    at that time I will bring you home.
I will give you honor and praise
    among all the peoples of the earth
when I restore your fortunes^[d]
    before your very eyes,”
says the Lord.

What an amazing vision for someone who has only seen hopelessness and sin! This week with the massacre in CT we can look at this time of the year when Darkness seems to reign as a time for little hope. I was appalled and grieved by what happened and is happening in our society. The lack of the fear of the Lord, the low regard for LIFE and the desensitization of people toward violence, evil and demonic influence can leave us hopeless. Yet even in the midst of tragedy and sin, satan and true human nature manifest we can look to the prophecy of our God and have HOPE!

May this season of Advent remind us that the way to change the society, the culture, our world and the nation is to have a change of heart. This comes because the KING came in Bethlehem and HE alone can forgive, bind up the brokenhearted and heal! HE alone can give us the vision of HIS KINGDOM! May we see not only the prophecies fulfilled in HIS Birth, Death and Resurrection but HIS promise to be REAL HOPE and bring REAL CHANGE now and in the future. Today we light the Shepherds candle, the pink one, the Candle of JOY. This HOPE in the promise knowing the incarnation of LOVE in Bethlehem leads us to be filled with JOY even in this Dark world. We like John's disciples who were sent to Jesus to ask him if he was the one, need to see and experience what our Lord is doing in order that we may know HE is still in control.
Listen to the response He gives to these seekers in Luke 7
²⁰ When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
²¹ At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. ²² So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy^[b] are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. ²³ Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

This is a list of what the MESSIAH was prophesied to do in Isaiah 29, 35 and 61. He is fulfilling scripture and prophecy. HE just wanted John to know HE does what the prophecy says. This is why we ANTICIPATE the PROPHECY!

Let us pray fervently for all the families of those who lost loved ones in CT and that the KINGDOM of God will come quickly as we pray in HIS prayer "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!"

Let us anticipate the prophecy so that no matter what we will know that the Lord is with us and the HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE!

Love in Christ our victorious Risen Lord and Savior,

Pastor Bryan

 

Advent 2: Anticipate the KING! Dec. 9, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ our KING,

Today we continue our journey of Advent where we take time to contemplate the meaning of "Christ's Coming," Advent meaning "coming" and his promise to come again to judge the world.

It is very difficult as Christians to really keep the season of Advent. The world wants to move to Christmas on Black Friday, if not before. We seem to rush for Christmas and then start to take down the tree on December 26th, or the latest on the 1st of January, even though Christmas doesn't end until the 5th of January. Unfortunately, when we want to take time to prepare the way for the Lord as we are instructed in Malachi 3 and for which John the Baptist was called in Luke 3 we find that it is a dichotomy of advent to be both preparing for the final coming of Jesus and judgement while also preparing for the great joy of remembering the baby in Bethlehem.

We can spend all of Advent in great JOY of Anticipating the King in Bethlehem! Emmanuel: "God with US" and forget about the tremendous responsibility we have to remember and let others know that the Lord will return at anytime for judgement. Not wanting to be a scrooge I tend toward the JOY part. But there are some, especially this year with the Mayan calendar ending on December 21 who tend toward the fear of the return of Christ, judgement and the end of the world. Both extremes lead us to miss the beauty of both the manger in Bethlehem and the return of our Lord. Both events are a call to refining, washing and preparing!

In Malachi 3:

3 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

² But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. ³ He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, ⁴ and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

⁵ “So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.

⁶ “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. ⁷ Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.

Malachi is calling us to prepare for the Day of the Lord. He is telling us to prepare and that the Holy Spirit will refine us with fire as gold and silver are refined and wash us clean with alkali, a strong bleaching agent or launderer's soap. This sounds painful and yet we know the Lord disciplines those he loves. We recognize that we are preparing since our Baptism to live as a covenant people knowing the Father has given us eternal life though Christ and named us as his own therefore we are obedient to him because of who we are. Now as we look from the perspective of this side of the Cross we see the empty tomb and our Lord at the right hand of God so we know that the Kingdom of God is near and here. We are already living as kingdom people, for our King has sent His Holy Spirit to refine and purify us, giving us the authority to speak the gospel into this world and the power to live as HIS chosen people. We walk as KINGDOM people. This is what it means when the Lord says "He does not change and he will return to us." He will go on to tell us that we can test him with money and he will show us that if we believe in him for our salvation then our lives, money, possessions etc.. are nothing to worry about.

May we, during this Advent Season, both ANTICIPATE THE JOY OF LOVE THAT GOD SHOWED WITH CHRIST'S BIRTH AS "EMMANUEL" BORN IN BETHLEHEM AND CELEBRATE THE PROMISE OF HIS (THE LION OF JUDAH) RETURN TO JUDGE US. 

Yours in Christ Jesus our Risen Lord and KING,

Pastor Bryan 

Anticipate! Happy New Year! 1st Sunday of Advent Dec 2, 2012

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today is the beginning of the Year of our Lord, 2013 in the Church Year Calendar. It may be the only time we get ahead of the world. So HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you think as I do "how privileged we are to be chosen to serve the Lord in His church for this time in history!" We may think it would have been easier in years passed when the culture was more open to Christianity. But if you share my personal vision: "to be a 1st Century Christian in the 21st Century" then you would also be excited to serve the Lord during this pluralistic and relativistic time in history. When we look at the culture into which St. Paul and the other Apostles were called to serve we see a lot of similarities to our time. This should allow us to have an appreciation for how to do ministry today. We have the book of Acts and the Epistles that give us a guide. We recognize that the early church helped people to understand first, that they belong to God in Christ and,as part of HIS Body, belong to the Family of God. The fact that the Lord feels we should represent his body and be his family here in the year 2012-2013 is quite a vote of confidence by our Heavenly Father. So for this reason I can honestly say I ANTICIPATE what the Lord has planned for us!

We at Cross and Resurrection are the family of God both at our EMU site and at Alive! in Lenawee County. We have the privilege of helping all those whom our Lord has called, ALL for whom our Lord died on the Cross (EVERYONE) know that because of Christ's death and resurrection we now belong to the FAMILY! We are "A FAMILY FOR YOU!" So what does this mean as we start the devotion and the Advent Season?

We starting at dinner yesterday (Saturday Dec. 1) with our ANTICIPATE! devotion. The questions in our devotion were "How do you feel about our family? How did Jesus feel about his family? Who did Jesus say was part of HIS family?" These questions led us to appreciate our family. Understand Jesus' respect for his earthly parents, his brothers and sisters and yet loving his Heavenly Father, so much that he gets left in Jerusalem when he is 12 as he is in HIS FATHER'S HOUSE. He will later say about His mother, brothers and sisters: "who is my mother, brothers and sisters" in Matthew, Mark and Luke 8:
¹⁹ Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. ²⁰ Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”²¹ He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”

By actually comparing those who were following him to his real family, he acknowledges that this is HIS REAL FAMILY and that we who hear God's word and put it into practice ARE HIS FAMILY!

This helps us to understand, as we start this new year, that we have a covenant relationship with God through Christ. The Covenant means we BELONG to God our FATHER and therefore we have our IDENTITY and we trust and BELIEVE in Christ and then because of our identity and what we believe we are OBEDIENT and BECOME more like HIM.

This is why we ANTICIPATE THE PROMISES. We will use our Jesse Tree to study Jesus' family tree and understand Isaiah 

11 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of power,
    the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—
³ and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

We will look at God's original plan in the Garden of Genesis 1-2 then Adam and Eve with his promise to care for them. We will look at Noah and God's promise to protect (Gen 9). We will look at Abraham and Sarah with the promise of blessing in Gen 12 and 15. We will see Isaac as the promise provided in Gen 22. We will hear about Jacob (Israel) in Gen 28 as the promise affirmed and Joseph as the promise of providence in Gen 37. 

We ANTICIPATE THE PROMISES FULFILLED so that we can understand the Kingdom to which we BELONG where the KING of KINGS gives us, HIS Chosen, the AUTHORITY AND THEN HIS POWER by his HOLY SPIRIT to live as HIS family.

Our text today is from Jeremiah 33

⁴ “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

¹⁵ “‘In those days and at that time
    I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
    he will do what is just and right in the land.
¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved
    and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it^{[or he]} will be called:
    The Lord Our Righteousness.’

This is the WHY we anticipate not only the past and present fulfillment of the gracious promises but also the future as we live as the Family of God in 2013.

My prayer for us is that we would celebrate that the Lord is at work and has great plans for us. Today we will hear a testimonial from a young couple who is preparing to go to Egypt to work and share.

We look forward to seeing what Lord will do!

Love in Christ Jesus the fulfillment of the Promises and the promise keeper who wants us to move forward knowing that we BELONG, trust and BELIEVE in him and BECOME more like him each day,

Pastor Bryan