Tonight’s family service looked at the theme of ‘Christ in Christmas.’ Christmas is the time of year when we particularly think about how God sent Jesus as a baby to be born in Bethlehem. It’s a time of celebration: ‘good news that will cause great joy for all the people’, as the angels proclaimed to the shepherds (Luke 2:10). The Christmas story is worth all our attention and celebration because we see in this story how God sent His only Son to be born of the virgin Mary; it’s the start of the ‘good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God’ (Mark 1:1), for we see throughout the four gospels how this helpless baby born in a stable in Bethlehem grew to be the Saviour of the whole world, the sinless One who would die on a cross to take away the sins of the whole world.

Christmas is not the start of God’s story of salvation, however. Christmas is the time when we remember the birth of Jesus, but God’s plan to bridge the gulf between people and Himself caused by sin and rebellion and disobedience didn’t start at that point. One of the amazing truths of the Bible is that Jesus is central to the whole of the Bible. He is ‘in all the books of the Bible’; He is pictured or prophesied about in each of the 66 Bible books as well as in countless types in the lives of different characters in the Bible – which is why it’s important to read the Old Testament as well as the New Testament! On the road to Emmaus, ‘beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself’ (Luke 24:25-26) – a truly memorable Bible study!

A whistle-stop tour of Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament showed us Jesus in every book we find there. Many of the Messianic prophecies were fulfilled in His birth (see Isaiah’s prophecy that the virgin would bear a son in Is 7:14 or Micah’s prophecy that Bethlehem would be His birthplace (Mic 5:2)) and a scientist who picked out 48 prophecies about Jesus found in the Old Testament determined that the probability of one man randomly fulfilling them all is 1 in 10 to the exponent of 157. That is one followed by 157 zeros! – not very likely at all! Yet because God knows all things and inspired the Bible, Jesus was able to fulfil all these prophecies, and we can have confidence that the prophecies yet to be fulfilled – such as His coming to earth again for His people and His ultimate judgment of all – will one day, at the right time, be fulfilled. Our God is an amazing God!

The third fruit of the Spirit listed in Gal 5:23-24 is peace. Dave spoke from Rom 5:1-8 this morning. Peace in the world has never been evident and wars continue to be fought in many areas of the world. What, then, do Paul and Jesus mean when they talk about peace?

Paul talks primarily about the peace with God obtained through Christ’s sacrifice for us. Is 57:19-21 describes the peace that God brings and contrasts this with the wicked, for whom there is no peace, ‘whose waves cast up mire and mud.’ Just as the sea is constantly moving, affected by the pull of the moon and the pull of gravity and churns up seaweed and debris as a result, so people are restless without God, with the devil constantly tempting us to sin and the faint memory of all God intended for us pulling us in opposite directions. People are like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed about by the wind (Js 1:6), and there is a constant need for entertainment and distraction because all people desperately need peace with God, but look to find satisfaction in the wrong places.

All people need peace with God (Eph 2:17). The good news of Christmas is that peace is precisely what God promises to all people on whom His favour rests (Luke 2:14). God’s peace is available to us through Christ (see 1 Pet 2:24), a peace which helps to answer all our fears and give us assurance of God’s acceptance. Jesus promised to leave His peace with us (Jn 14:27); all we have to do is bring our problems and petitions to God and allow His perfect peace to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:7)

Life is supposed to be lived with God, but for most of us, the visible and tangible appear more real to us than the invisible, immortal God who gives us life. Ps 119 helps to anchor us in the reality of God in a world full of enemies who taunt us (Ps 119:42) and those who stoutly refuse to believe.

Anchors are hugely important in times of storm and uncertainty, keeping us fixed to truth. One of the great truths of the Christian faith, and a key message of Christmas, is that we have hope – hope we’ve grabbed hold of with both hands, ‘an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek.’ (Heb 6:19-20, The Message) This hope is rooted in God’s unfailing love for us which brings us salvation (Ps 119:41) and which leads us into freedom (Ps 119:45).

Our response to hope is delight (Ps 119:47). Those who have put their hope in God’s ways (Ps 119:43) have boldness to speak of this freely (Ps 119:46) and love to meditate on His decrees (Ps 119:46).

Advent is the time when we remember that light has come to our world in the person of Jesus Christ: ‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.’ (Is 9:2) Hope, in our terror-stricken world of fear and uncertainty, poverty and misery, is sorely and desperately needed. Let’s hold on to hope as the anchor for our soul.

Now that December has arrived, every week looks to be a busy week! To keep you up-to-date, here’s a summary of what’s happening this week at GPCC:

1. Tomorrow’s services (6th December) are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. The family service is looking at the theme of ‘Christ in Christmas’, looking at how Christ is central not only to Christmas but to the whole Bible! Come and find out how Christ’s coming was prophesied in the Old Testament and how God’s plan of salvation has been worked out from the foundation of the world.
2. Midweek meetings will be as usual, with youth club on Monday (6.30-8 p.m.) and the Bible study on Thursday at 7.30 p.m. Don’t forget that other groups use the building during the week, so if you’re over 60 and interested in fitness, come along to the Keep Fit class on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Slimming World also meets on Thursdays at 9 a.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Badminton will be on Friday at 7 p.m. and the coffee morning will be on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 12 noon.
3. The Parent & Toddler Christmas Party will be on Friday 11th December at 9.30 a.m. We’re looking forward to a great time with games, food and presents!
4. The Christmas market is on this Friday (11th December) from 4-8 p.m. and we will be serving refreshments and doing craft activities in the community hall. Come and get Christmas decorations and enjoy home baking and don’t forget you can get presents wrapped for just 10p per parcel! All monies raised will go to the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal to help local families in need.
5. 
6. The ‘Churches Together’ Carol Service will be on Friday 11th December at 6 p.m. This will be an outdoor carol service, so come wrapped up and ready to sing of Christ’s birth!

Please pray for all these services and for hearts to be touched by the message of Christmas. God has come to earth and we have a new song of praise and joy to sing!

Read Ps 119:32-39.

Staying the course, finishing the race of life, is an essential part of Christian discipleship. Paul used the metaphor of a race to describe life (see 1 Cor 9:24-27, 1 Tim 6:11-16, 2 Tim 4:7-8), and the writer to the Hebrews urges us to ‘run with perseverance the race marked out for us.’ (Heb 12:1) Life is not a sprint, but a long-distance race which requires endurance and persistence. ‘God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course.’ (Ps 119:33, The Message)

We start out on the Christian life through repentance (see Ps 120) and continue the journey through obedience. The psalmist prays for understanding, recognising that choices have to be made on a daily basis (‘turn my eyes away from worthless things’ Ps 119:37; ‘turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain.’ Ps 119:36)

Obedience is made up of daily choices: ‘my whole life one long obedient response.’ (Ps 119:35, The Message) Friedrich Nietzsche wrote ‘the essential thing in heaven and earth is… that there should be a long obedience in the same direction: there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something that has made life worth living.’ When we’re younger, we tend to obey sporadically, ‘when we feel like it,’ lacking consistency and doggedness in our lives. Obedience in the same direction requires a commitment to God, an acknowledgment of His ultimate goodness (‘Your laws are good’ Ps 119:39) and a tilting of heart and will towards His ways. Mary’s initial obedience to the angel’s message (Luke 1:38) was crucial, but it’s just as important to finish well as it is to start well.

Read Psalm 119:25-31.

The best way to read the Bible (and, indeed, to live life) is prayerfully. We come to this book for daily guidance because we believe not only that God speaks through it, but that He speaks to us. As we approach its pages, our hearts need to be in communion with God, asking ‘What do You want to say to me today?’

The psalmist does not love the word in isolation to God; rather, he understands the connection between the word and his own life (‘Preserve my life according to Your word’ Ps 119:25) and the word and God. He reads in order to understand, in order to obey.

‘Let me understand the teaching of Your precepts; then I will meditate on Your wonders.’ (Ps 119:27) There is a need to slow down and ‘ponder anew what the Almighty can do/ If with His love He befriend thee.’ (Joachim Neander/ Cathering Wirksworth).

Ps 119 is not only filled with truth about God’s Word but also gives us model prayers for us to echo:

• ‘Preserve my life according to Your word’ (Ps 119:25);
• ‘Teach me Your decrees’ (Ps 119:26);
• ‘Let me understand the teaching of Your precepts’ (Ps 119:27);
• ‘Strengthen me according to Your word’ (Ps 119:28)’
• ‘Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through Your law’ (Ps 119:29);
• ‘Do not let me be put to shame.’ (Ps 119:31)

Often, we don’t know how to pray, but this psalm acts like a key, opening a locked door to a new world of prayer. Prayer connects our lives and our understanding to the bigger world and infinite resources of God. The psalmist prays not in isolation, recounting his ways, with God as a remote therapist, but in connection with the teaching of God’s words, having, therefore, a solid foundation on which to build. Prayer that is in line with God’s Word will always see answers (see John 14:13-14, 1 John 5:14-15).