Light<\/strong> all five advent candles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Worship<\/strong> the Lord Jesus with all your heart. Submit and surrender ourselves to Jesus as Lord, and commit all that we are and have to his service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sing<\/strong> the carol \u201cAngels We Have Heard on High.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We often think that the world we live in is getting darker, more evil, and more rejecting of the truth. Indeed, the Bible predicts that evil people will become even worse (2 Tim. 3:13). But at the same time there are more Christian believers than ever before, more languages have the Bible, and more churches are being planted around the world than at any time in history. Jesus, the true light of the world is sending his disciples out as salt and light into his world. The darkness cannot overcome the light of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read<\/strong> Luke 2:25-32, John 1:4-9, Matt 4:12-17 and John 8:12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Light<\/strong> four advent candles. Worship Jesus, the light of the world, who brings us out of darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pray<\/strong> for the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to be spread to unreached peoples and tribes and for missionaries who are reaching the unreached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sing<\/strong> the carol \u201cO Holy Night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were many people called savior at the time of Christ. A general whose army rescued a city from attack by its enemies would be acclaimed as savior. A politician who negotiated a peace treaty with hostile nations might be called a savior. The Roman emperor was even called savior by some of the very peoples Rome\u2019s armies had conquered. After all, he brought peace (after attacking and enslaving them!). But Jesus came as the true and eternal savior, who saves us from our true enemies \u2013 from sin and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read<\/strong> Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:8-14, John 3:16-17 and 1 Tim 2:1-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Light<\/strong> three advent candles. Praise the Father, who sent his Son to save the world from sin and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pray<\/strong> for the rulers of a nation or nations that persecute the church, that the church would be granted peace. Pray for the strengthening of the church in those lands, and for the sharing of the gospel there to be fruitful and powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sing<\/strong> the carol \u201cHark! The Herald Angels Sing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prophets in the Old Testament predicted that the long history of Israel would culminate in a time when God would act to fulfill his promises. God would come and dwell with his people, and deal with the problem of human sin and evil. At the center of this restoration would be his Messiah, his anointed one, through whom God would establish his kingdom which would spread throughout the whole world. Jesus is God coming to dwell with his people. Jesus is the Messiah whose kingdom will last forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read<\/strong> Joel 3:14-17, Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 2:1-6 and Luke 1:26-35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Light<\/strong> two advent candles. Praise and thank God for sending his Messiah and establishing his kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pray<\/strong> for Jewish people in Israel, in your neighborhood, and throughout the world to come to know Jesus as their Messiah and Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sing<\/strong> the carol \u201cO Come, O Come Emmanuel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christmas is most of all about God becoming a man, the incarnation, meaning that the same God who created everything and rules everything became one of us. He shared in our human nature, our life, our suffering and even our mortality. That is why the virgin birth of Jesus matters so much. His miraculous conception affirms that he is both divine and human, the Son of God and Son of Man. If he were not God, he would have no power to save us. Because he is human, he can save us humans. We share in his life, death and resurrection when we put our trust in him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read<\/strong> Matthew 1:18-25, John 1:1-3 and John 1:14-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Light<\/strong> one advent candle. Praise and thank God for the incarnation \u2013 that he became one of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pray<\/strong> for family members, neighbors and friends who do not yet believe in Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sing<\/strong> the carol \u201cO Come, All Ye Faithful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use this set of advent devotionals to revisit the story of Christmas in the Bible. We hope it reminds you to pray for others and draws you to praise the Lord – it is all about Jesus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Download and follow the guide each Sunday of Advent with your church or discipleship group by reading aloud the devotional and corresponding passage of Scripture, praying together and celebrating the birth of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read<\/strong> the passage of scripture. CHRISTMAS DAY It is at Christmas that we can remember the remarkable humility of Jesus, who came into this world like any other baby, vulnerable, weak and helpless, even though he was God the Son, equal to and completely one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He humbled himself, even to death on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":3514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[334,139,21,64],"class_list":["post-3500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theology","tag-advent","tag-christmas","tag-gospel","tag-jesus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nWEEK FOUR | JESUS, LIGHT OF THE WORLD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWEEK THREE | JESUS, SAVIOR OF THE WORLD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWEEK TWO | JESUS, MESSIAH, KING OF ISRAEL<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWEEK ONE | JESUS, SON OF GOD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"Advent](\"https:\/\/raincrossdev2.com\/gateway\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/TG-Header-1024x512.jpg\")
<\/a>
Light<\/strong> a candle on the Advent wreath, if you have one, and follow the praise response.
Pray<\/strong> for those in the prayer prompt.
Sing<\/strong> or listen<\/strong> to the included Christmas hymn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"