The Point of Christmas (Ryan Whitaker Smith)

When the angel visits Joseph to tell him that the unborn child carried by Mary is not the product of an illicit romance but rather the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, one crucial detail of this revelation is in the stated purpose of this miracle. The angel even tells Joseph what the baby’s name should be! The child will be called Jesus, a derivation of Joshua, which means “God saves.”

This is why the Son of God becomes incarnate—to save sinners.

This is the whole point of Christianity, and thus the whole point of Christmas. Jesus did not come primarily to set a good example, though he certainly did that. And he did not come to give us solid ethics teaching, though he did that too. He didn’t even come primarily to perform signs and wonders, though he undoubtedly did many.

The primary reason for the incarnation was that God might justify sinners through Christ’s sinless life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection.

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Intentional Discipleship Schedule

CREATED FOR HIS GLORY 10/8 - Discipleship books 11/12 - Created for His Glory units 1-4 11/26 - Small Group Followup 12/10 - Created for His Glory units 5-9 12/24 - Small Group Followup 1/14 - Created for His Glory units 10-13 1/28 - Small Group Followup 1/26 Evening activity & Dinner

31 Day Reading Plan on Love

The Significance of Love 31 Days The Preeminence of Love Day 1 The Greatest of These ( 1 Cor 13:13) Day 2 Loving Faith (Gal 5:6) Day 3 The Fruit of Love (Gal 5:22) Day 4 Rooted in Love (Eph 3:17) Day 5 The Dimensions of Love (Eph 3:18) Day 6 Full of Love (Eph 4:16) Day 7 A Life Full of Love ( Eph 5:2) Day 8 Love Given by the Holy Spirit (Col 1:8) Day 9 Clothe Yourselves in Love (Col 3:14) Day 10 Protected by Love (1 Thess 5:8) Day 11 Pursue Love ( 1 Tim 6:11) Day 12 God is Love ( 1 Jn 4:16) The Example of Jesus Day 13 Unchangeable Love (Jn 13:1) Day 14 Divine Love ( Jn 15:9) Day 15 Self-Sacrificing Love ( Jn 15:13) Day 16 Inseparable Love ( Rom 8:35,37) Day 17 Constraining Love ( 2 Cor 5:14; Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2) Day 18 Manifested by His Death ( 1 Jn 3:16) How We Love Each Other Day 19 Impartial in Love ( Dt 10:19) Day 20 Unselfish in Love (Mt 22:39) Day 21

What is a Disciple?

A disciple of Jesus is someone who is following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and is committed to the mission of Jesus. We find Mark 1:17 (Matthew 4:19) to be a helpful verse that can serve as a useful framework around which we can place the teachings of the New Testament on what it means to be a disciple. “And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (ESV) Notice the three key characteristics of a disciple: He/she follows Jesus He/she is being changed by Jesus He/she is committed to the mission of Jesus The diagram at the beginning of this post is a simple way that we sometimes picture how people grow as disciples: Head – in the mind the decision to follow Jesus has been made (now he/she needs to connect in discipling relationships) Heart – in discipling relationships we are changed by the Spirit to be more and more like Jesus (now he/she needs to minister to others) Hand – by our actions we actively committed to the

Intentional Discipleship

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