Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This week prayer will be held at the Brown’s

On Sunday our focus in scripture will be Isaiah 63:1-14, where we encounter an avenger traveling out of Edom (a symbol of the enemies of God) after destroying them in His anger (v1-6). Isaiah responds to this warrior, whose garments are red with blood, with thanksgiving, because it has happened for because of God’s love, “According to the multitude of His loving kindnesses.” The rest of the section (v7-14) is a song of praise for God’s mercy in exercising His power over His enemies. Isaiah explains the reason God works in this way. He has a very distinct purpose in mind. God avenges His enemies and leads His people to make for Himself, “a glorious name” (v14).  EndFragmentEndFragment

Building Update: 

The elders received feedback and have found that the church is split about half and half between alternatives two and three. We are going to schedule a meeting in January for a discussion to try to continue to build unity for the way forward.  We would like to have the meeting on Thursday evening January 7 at the church. Regular attenders are welcome to attend, but cannot participate in the conversation.

We will be singing these songs together on Sunday,

• Rejoice the Lord Is King
• Great Is Thy Faithfulness
• Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us
• What God Ordains Is Always Good
• The Son of God Goes Forth to War

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Prayer will be held at the Noah home.

Remember our meeting to discuss the building on Thursday evening at 7:00 at the church. There will be no vote, and the discussion will be limited to members only, but non members may attend as observers.

The grace of God is astoundingly shocking. God rescues broken and weary sinners and heals them. The reason they were broken and weary was because of their rebellion, and yet instead of abandoning them in their rebellion, He sets them free and then comforts them. This reality is revealed in our scripture focus this week – Isaiah 61:1-11, where the goodness and mercy of Jesus Christ continues to be explained. In the previous chapter, the Lord described the future blessings He was going to heap upon His people, during the era of the new covenant. Now he introduces the One who will be bringing these blessings and how these blessings will affect them. Notice that Jesus Himself makes it clear that He is the fulfillment of this passage of scripture in Luke 4. This chapter reads like the servant songs in 11:2; 42:1; 49:8; 50:4; 52-53. Notice also that the chapter breaks into two main divisions. First, what the Lord Jesus will do with His people in verses 1-3 and second, what the people will do as a result of His power working in them in verses 4-11. These same themes are carried on into chapter 62. 

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The songs we will be singing are as follows:

• Joy to the World
• Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus
• By Grace Alone
• Come, All Ye Pining
• Man of Sorrows 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

Again, we find the Lord dazzling us with one illustration after another of the astonishing value of Christ and His salvation. These things are described using words like, “Light, glory, wealth, praise, mercy, open gates, a beautiful sanctuary, joy for many generations, milk, gold, iron, peace, inheritance, planting, the little becoming large… and time pressing on toward more and more glory, as “The Lord will hasten it in its time” (v22).

Our text for Sunday is Isaiah 60:1-18 where we see various pictures of the expansion, beautification and the rising reputation – glory – of the church. In v1-2, we see the light shining on God’s people. in v3-8, the expansion of the church. In v9-13, the blessings that flow into the church from the converted Gentiles. In v14-18, there is a description of the good reputation of the church. Finally, in v19-22, there are many graphic pictures of the beauty of the church. John Gill sums up the whole section with these words, “A small family, a little handful of people in all ages, scattered up and down in the world, of no esteem and account in it, being all gathered together, that ever were in the world, will appear to be thousands and millions, and such a number as no man can number” (Rev 7:9).

Prayer will be held at the Brown Barn

The songs are as follows:

• All Creatures of Our God and King
• Isaiah 58:13-14
• O Church, Arise
• Complete in Thee
• How Sweet and Awesome Is This Place

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Prayer this week will be held at the Brown Barn.

Our text for Sunday is Isaiah 59:1-14, where where there is a continuation of Chapter 58. Chapter 59, takes us back to the question Judah was asking of God,  “why have you not heard?” (58:3). The context that informs our understanding of these words is shaped by the fact that Judah was blaming God for His distance and His lack of blessing. The problem was not with God, but with them – their sins had separated them from God. The entire chapter however sends a message of hope because God’s hand is not too short to save or his ears too stopped up to hear or His eyes blind to see and save. He has sent His intercessor to rescue us from our entrapment. This is the heart of the message.

Here is the outline:

I. The problem is identified, v1-2 

II. The problem is described, v3-8 

III. The acknowledgement of he consequences of sin, v9-14 

The songs we will be singing are as follows:

• To God All Praise and Glory
• Psalm 51 (# 415 in Trinity Hymnal)
• Rock of Ages
• O Great God
• And Can It Be

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Isaiah 58 makes it clear that the secret of life is to know the kind of delight that is true delight. There are only two kinds of people in the world – those who find the christian life a burdensome, boring drudgery and those who find it to be a relieving and energizing joy. This is one of the underlying messages of Isaiah 58, where the contrast between the burdensome “delight” and the truly life-giving delight of love for God and His ways is plainly displayed. Isaiah uses two examples to illustrate the contrasts – fasting and the sabbath. In our text for Sunday we will see what happens to a person who has found the true delight.

This week, prayer will be held at the Brown Barn. We will be singing this new song from Isaiah 58:13-14  

Sunday afternoon teaching with Malamuolo Chindongo. Mala, Rachel and Amelie will be with us on Sunday.

Please remember to pray for Sam Szuchan’s (pronounced Soohan) baptism on Sunday afternoon and particularly to pray for his parents who may be coming.

Please continue to pray against the rapid drift of our society into the ever deeper despising of the goodness of God. You can see the marks of the slide at www.defendingmarriage.com

The songs we will be singing are here:

• The Doxology / Crown Him with Many Crowns
• Isaiah 58:13,14
• Micah 6:8
• Speak, O Lord
• O Church Arise