You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2013.
P & T’s flight for Candidate School is this Sunday morning leaving O’Hare at 6:45 AM. Would anyone be able to take them to the airport around 4:00 AM? If so, contact them.
There will be no December Table Talk this Sunday (12/15).
Instead we are offering a New Year’s challenge: Make 2014 a year of reading!
· If you generally consider yourself a non-reader – make a resolution to cut out or back on TV or movies or gaming or what-have-you (if we’re not reading we’re filling our free time up with something else) and read more books next year.
· If you’re an introverted book worm – make a resolution to read with someone else. Approach someone to read a book together and meet regularly to discuss in a discipleship sort of way.
For anyone who wants to accept this challenge, I want to buy you a book to read over the Christmas break! It’s Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books by Tony Reinke. I read it over my summer vacation and found it a helpful resource on the reason for reading and some tips on how to do it. Just email me at ncarter at immanuel dash baptist dot net and let me know if you want me to buy it for you. Then read it over the break and the first Table Talk of 2014 will be a discussion of this book and topic. That will be Sunday, January 19th, after the worship service.
For the remainder of 2014, Table Talks will be chances to share selections from books you are reading and discuss them with others (based on an idea found in the book and taken from C.S. Lewis’ literary club, The Inklings).
One person has asked if I could send an outline of my sermon ahead of time in order to help follow along on Sunday mornings. We’ve been testing this out for a few months. I compress my sermon into a one-page outline on Sunday morning and email it so it can be pulled up on a phone during the sermon. This person has found it helpful and we thought we’d open that up to anyone else who might want to get those emails. Below is an example from last week’s sermon. If you want in, just email ncarter at immanuel dash baptist dot net.
The New Covenant
Hebrews 8:1-13 | December 8, 2013
Introduction
Sermon = explanation and application of biblical content to a particular church
Hebrews = sermon; since the end of ch. 4 this sermon has been about Jesus as the great high priest
vv. 1-5 = recapping this
vv. 6-13 = just this: Jesus offers the superior covenant to live in.
Let’s pray…
Overview of Covenants
Covenant = the terms of a relationship.
Adamic Covenant => ‘Covenants of Promise’ – Noahic Covenant, Abrahamic Covenant, Mosaic Covenant, Davidic Covenant…
The New Covenant
New as opposed to Old (Mosaic)
Prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31-34, quoted in Hebrews 8:8-12.
NT says Jesus instituted New Covenant (Lk. 22:20, 1Cor. 11:25, 2 Corinthians 3:6)
THE NEW COVENANT IS NEW AND BETTER BECAUSE IT’S UNBREAKABLE, INTERNAL, EXPERIENTIAL, AND ULTIMATELY DEALS WITH SIN REMOVAL.
New and Better
v. 13 – new, v. 6 – better
vv. 8b-9a – not like the old one
Unbreakable
Old Covenant = v. 9 – “because they did not remain faithful.” New Covenant = no conditions, all of grace!
Internal
v. 10 – “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.” No room for nominalism.
Experiential
v. 11 – “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”
Sin Removal
v. 12 – “For [because; the ground of all that’s been said is this:] I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Well may the accuser roar, / of sins that I have done; / I know them all and thousands more, / Jehovah knoweth none!
Conclusion
Are you in the New Covenant?
The Lord’s Table
Compare Exodus 24:3-8 to Luke 22:14-20!
Benediction
Tonight is the Koinonia Christmas Party!
Tomorrow morning is the bi-monthly Outreach.
Tonight is Prayer Meeting. 6:45 to 8:00 PM at The Meeting Place.
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Col. 4:2).
Remember to come join in the Christmas festivities this Friday, Dec. 6th @ 6:30 PM at The Meeting Place.
Activities include a chili cook-off (bring your best!), hot chocolate bar, children’s Christmas play, and games! You don’t want to miss this party!
If you have any questions, please contact Cyndi at koinonia.
Lizzy’s former youth pastor is now a missionary in Thailand. He has been working with a certain Thai student who will be studying English in Chicago and is looking for a host home for about 6 weeks from December 20th to the end of January. He’s looking for something that’s either near downtown or is close to CTA. He’s also looking for a place that he can have breakfast and dinner provided, and most importantly practice English (having a bicycle he can borrow would be a bonus). He’s a pleasant, talkative 22 year old man. He’s willing to pay approximately $750 for the 6 weeks. The missionary has been sharing the gospel with him and wants him to meet other Christians who can continue to reach out to him.
If you or someone you know could do this, can you email Lizzy ASAP?