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We are REALLY looking forward to this coming Sunday's Thanksgiving Worship Gathering! This little "tradition" has become a favorite for many people. When you come, be sure to not only come with a heart ready to give thanks, but also bring your Baby Bottle filled with change, cash, or checks made payable to Alternatives.
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This week, Erin concludes our One Thought series from John chapter 1 by looking at verse 18. May it encourage you and lead you to worship Jesus today!
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See God
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On my desk, I have some bookends holding up three commentaries I use on a regular basis in sermon prep. I am quite thankful for these bookends, for if I didn't have them, my commentaries would constantly be falling over.
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Today, as we conclude our One Thought series through John 1 (don't worry, we'll do more One Thought series in the future from other passages in the Bible), we get to enjoy some "bookends." Just as John began his poetical prelude to his Gospel, he ends the prelude in verse 18 with a critical doctrine of Christianity: Jesus is God.
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I typically use the English Standard Version (ESV) when I teach. The ESV translates verse 18 this way:
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No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
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Because the ESV translation team aimed for a slightly more "word-for-word" translation, they ended up with a slightly more stilted sentence than other translations. Here is how the slightly-more-readable New Living Translation puts the same verse:
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No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
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Whether you use the slightly-more-stilted ESV or the slightly-more-readable NLT, the meaning is the same. The Apostle John wants us to realize that in order to see God, we need to look at Jesus, for Jesus, The Word, was and is God.
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While being fully human, Jesus was also simultaneously fully God. Not half-man, half-God; fully man, and fully God! And by taking on human flesh, Jesus made the unknowable God knowable. He made the invisible God seeable. He has done what no one else could do - let us see God and come into a relationship with this perfect, holy, amazing Being.
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As we move into the Thanksgiving holiday, may you let the person and work of Jesus show you God's heart and love for you. And may that truth overwhelm you, leading you to worship and give Him thanks.
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Fill a Bottle
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This Sunday, Nov. 20, bring your filled (or unfilled) baby bottles back to Riverwood so we can get them back to Alternatives Pregnancy Center, as we come alongside them as they empower families to choose life and walk them through their pregnancies.
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Thanksgiving Service
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This Sunday is the Riverwood Family Thanksgiving Worship Gathering. There will be no Kids Creek (or 5th/6th grade class) so we can all worship and give thanks together. There will also be a chance at the mic for anyone to publicly share their thanks to God, so be thinking of how God has blessed you this year.
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Advent Series
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We will be beginning our Advent Series entitled Waiting for Arrival on November 27 and ending on Saturday, Dec. 24 at our Christmas Eve Worship Gathering (4:30 pm). Invite a friend, co-worker, neighbor, or family member and come anticipate the Savior's arrival together with us. (NOTE: There will NOT be a Worship Gathering on Sunday, Dec. 25)
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Just For Fun
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With Thanksgiving break coming up, why not spend your time making art...out of hundreds of Rubik's Cubes. Check out the skills of this creative cartoonist.
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