On Break Until January 6th

SixSixteen Sunday Morning will be returning to its normal schedule January 6th.  We completed 1 Peter 1 in December and will begin 1 Peter 2.  As always, singles are welcome to join us at any time. The Sunday Morning gathering begins at 9:00 a.m. at the downtown campus in Room 114.

Christmas Dinner

We will be taking a Christmas and New Year’s break from SixSixteen Sunday Morning until January 6th.  Until then, Boyd and Ingrid are hosting a Christmas dinner again this year for singles.  If you would like to come, contact us to RSVP.

Elijah and the End Times

We began our gathering last week (12/9) with a devotional on Isaiah 40. A portion of Isaiah 40 is quoted in 1 Peter 1:24-25, the passage we were studying. A question was asked that I promised to post a response to. Here’s a recap of our discussion and my response:

John the Baptist quoted Isaiah 40:3-5 when Jesus began his ministry. John would have fulfilled the prophecy in Malachi that says one will come in the spirit of Elijah before the Day of the Lord comes (Mal. 4:5), but Israel rejected its king (Jesus) and therefore Jesus will one day come again. This is the reason for the need of a second coming– when the King returns, his people will accept him. As it stands, we live in a kingdom age where the King is not physically present (much like David’s kingship endured a time of exile).

I made mention that I believe the prophecy of Malachi 4:5 has not yet been fulfilled. Someone asked for the verse reference where it talks about an Elijah-like figure who will come before Jesus’ second coming. The verse that I couldn’t recall at the time was Malachi 4:5.

For further explanation of the interaction between Malachi 4:5 and John’s ministry, see this transcript of a Q&A session with one my favorite Bible teachers, John MacArthur.

One final comment: don’t think that the second coming was Plan B for God. It wasn’t. It has always been Plan A. I’m only saying that things would have turned out differently had Israel accepted its King on his first coming. They didn’t and now we know why: his Plan A (which included Israel’s hardening of heart and rejection of Jesus) included Gentiles too (see Romans 11).

The ‘New Birth’ - ‘Love One Another’ Connection

The vertical reality of new birth has horizontal effects, namely loving one another. . . this week (12/9) at SixSixteen Sunday.

Do You See the Joy of God in the Sun?

We opened our gathering today by looking at Isaiah 1 and what it says about snow.  I mentioned a sermon that Pastor Piper gave years ago that has impacted the way I transpose God’s creation and biblical truth.  The link to the sermon is below:

Do you See the Joy of God in the Sun?