Opening: What is most inconvenient when the power goes out for a day or two: no
TV/Internet, food storage/prep, so dark at night?
Scripture: Tomorrow begins a new message series, and the message comes from
today’s text. Read Isaiah 9:2-7; 7:14; Luke 4:18-21.
Connect
the Text with Your Life:
- When have you experienced a “dark” time? What were the circumstances? What did it feel like? What was your overriding emotion when you finally “saw the light”?
- Of the four characteristics of the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6, which is the most meaningful to you right now in your life?
- Isaiah 7:14 tells us the Messiah will be Immanuel – “God with us.” In what ways do you feel God with you? In what ways does it seem you are still in the “land of deep darkness”[1]?
- If all five areas of Jesus' mission in Luke 4:18-21 are to be carried on by the church as a whole, which area of concern do you give priority and which do you tend to neglect:
1.
Preaching
the Gospel?
2.
Helping
people to be free to live for God?
3.
Performing
acts of mercy?
4.
Work
for fair and just social structures?
5.
Explaining
God's grace to disheartened people?
Prayer
Focus: For tomorrow’s worship celebration, as we begin
the season of Advent, that Christ would come into or worship and our lives.
Message
Series: “A Different Kind of Christmas”
Tomorrow’s
Message Title: “Expect a Miracle.“
