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The Shadow Over Christmas is the Cross
Christmas, for many, is colored with twinkling lights, the sound of singing, bright colored packages topped with elegant bows, cookies, candy, parties and laughter. But for others, Christmas is colored with the stark reality of roaring fires that ravage neighborhoods, hospital rooms, funeral homes, broken relationships, drunken relatives, or memories of those whose faces are missing from their lives. As we teach our children about Jesus, God’s greatest gift to the world, we must not forget to teach them that the manger was shadowed by a cross. The Messiah in the manger was destined to be a man of sorrows acquainted with all our grief, bearing all our sin and…
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Isaiah, a willing prophet
Title:Isaiah, a willing prophet Aim:To answer God’s call to serve. Scripture:Isaiah 6:1–12 Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne room, Isaiah 6:1–4 Isaiah 6 is the prophet’s record of how he heard and responded to God’s call to serve. At first, it may seem odd that Isaiah’s commission to prophesy does not come until after five chapters of oracles. These chapters deal with such themes as judgment, discipline, exile, restoration, and blessing. Yet, Isaiah placed his commissioning account here to prove he had the credentials to deliver the opening series of oracles against Judah. God dramatically called Isaiah to his prophetic ministry “in the year that King Uzziah died”…
