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Christmas season where we celebrate the birth of the Lord is rapidly approaching and it is useful to us to think about all the things we need to do in order to prepare for His Advent. One key item on each of our checklists should be to REPENT! We will discuss the important role John the Baptist played in preparing people for the Lord’s coming.

The Lord came into this world to heal the sick. He did not come to those who were already healthy. Likewise, the Lord did not come to the righteous, or those who thought they were righteous, but to sinners, to heal them of their sin. The Lord pointed to this truth every time He healed someone who was physically ill. The physical healing was only an outward sign of the inward miracle: the healing of spiritual sin. Each and every one of our sins could be portrayed as an outward ailment. This week we turn to leprosy, through which we will learn what happens when we become isolated from God and from each other through sin, and how the Lord reconciles with us and restores us to our communities.

This is the conclusion of our three-part series on temptations. In the end we have to confront our love of ourselves. This is at the heart of any spiritual struggle. We want to be in charge, so much so that we want to be able to control the Lord. This is represented in the Lord’s last temptation. The devil took Him up onto the pinnacle of the temple, and told Him to throw Himself to the ground. Doesn’t the Word say that “He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,” and, “In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone”? (Luke 4:10, 11). In others words, test the Lord. The Lord says that He’ll keep you safe. But let’s see if He really will. Force His hand. Make Him rescue you. Yet that is not how it works. The Lord will help us when we have made it clear that we want His help. In order to do this we must put aside love of self and put our trust in Him.

Part 3.    Putting Self First – 13 November

This Sunday we will begin a three-part series on spiritual battles, or temptation. The template for entering these spiritual struggles can be found in the Lord’s temptations: before He began His ministry the Lord was tempted by the devil in the wilderness for forty days. The three main temptations that He faced and in which He was victorious encapsulate all of the temptations that we also grapple with: the craving for pleasure, the compulsion to twist the truth, and the drive to elevate ourselves above all others.

2.    Twisting the Truth – 6 November
3.    Putting Self First – 13 November

Holy Supper will be offered this Sunday. Every time we take Holy Supper it is a new opportunity to find rejuvenation in our spiritual lives; so how do we let go of the past and really start anew? We’ll look at how the process of repentance washes away some of our baggage and gives us a great chance to start again on our spiritual journey.

Life is often messy. Many people struggle to stay on top of all their obligations, much less all the other bits and pieces of life. With this experience it can start to appear that there is no real order or purpose to life, no strand tying it all together. Yet even in the chaos the Lord’s order is present. In His eyes, every piece is accounted for, every event foreseen, and every possibility planned for. Even within the chaos, there is order; the Lord’s Divine Order.

The service will be broadcast live at https://www.facebook.com/newchurchwestville/live. You can also watch the service later at that same link.

Old age can be a time of great reflection: looking back on what has been, looking forward with wonder to what is to come after death. It can also be a time of trial and tribulation: as the body and mind fail, doubt and despair can creep in. Moses, at the end of his life, was able to reflect on the past and from that gracefully hand over his wisdom to the next generation. As we look at this concluding stage of life in this world, we will look at how we too can gracefully age and handover to the next generation.

The service will be broadcast live at https://www.facebook.com/newchurchwestville/live. You can also watch the service later at that same link.

We all have times when we become paralyzed by evil and falsity. We want desperately to be good but for some reason we cannot seem to let go of harmful thoughts and feelings. The Lord’s forgiveness offers us a way out of this spiritual paralysis: when we raise our thoughts to Him, He heals us through His forgiveness, and in that healing we find freedom for our minds.

The service will be broadcast live at https://www.facebook.com/newchurchwestville/live. You can also watch the service later at that same link.