NEWSLETTER 6 - NEW YEAR 2006

VERSE OF THE MONTH:
"and in the desert.... you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place" Deuteronomy 1:31 (NIV)

IN THIS EDITION:
Immanuel - God with us!
Going Deeper
New Videos
Events

IMMANUEL - GOD WITH US!
Over the last week or so many of us will have been celebrating Christmas. This is a time for fun and being together with family and friends. Sadly, however, there is often an over-emphasis on spending too much, partying too much, eating too much and drinking too much. It often means that the central event of Christmas is squashed to the edge of our thoughts and programmes. The Father who loved so much hardly gets a mention.

Christmas is the time we celebrate God with us. Jesus came to reveal the Father to us, to bring His presence to us so that we could know Him in our lives - today and everyday. Immanuel, as well as being a name for Jesus, also tells us what He does - He brings God to us. He makes our Heavenly Father knowable once again. The God often perceived as distant is now with us in person and His true nature once again revealed.

As I have thought about the Christmas story again, I see afresh the response of those who encountered the baby Jesus as one of worship. Mary pours her heart out in worship after the angel tells her she is to give birth to the Son of God; an angel announces the birth to the shepherds and then the Heavenly hosts burst into praise; the shepherds worship as they gather around the feeding trough where Jesus lay and the wise men worshipped as they gave their gifts. Herod, too, knew the right response. He asked the wise men to return to him and tell him where Jesus was so "he could go and worship". Of course he had no intention of worshipping Jesus. His heart was hard because he knew that Jesus challenged his way of life.

Today, as then, Immanuel will challenge our life! But "God with us" is about worship as we understand that God has made Himself known to us. Through Jesus He has revealed His nature and has come to be a Father to us!

GOD IS WITH US....
He is with us in our anguish and shame; there is no place He won't go.
He is with us in our pain; He comes to the broken man yet He shows us a righteous way to walk.
He is with us as He fights for our freedom; His Son took our place and bore our sin.
He is with us; He has made a home for us and reconciled us to Him.
He will be with us forever - we are being made into the Bride for His Son.

We can start the New Year knowing that God is with us. He has stepped into our world and is with us in our families, our work, our crises, our pain and our joys. He wants to walk with us in everything we do. Although 2006 will have many challenges and highlights we can look forward to it, knowing that He is with us. As we recapture the central event of Christmas once again may the only true response of our hearts be worship. And as we worship we will draw closer to the One who revealed Himself to us.

GOING DEEPER
In November we hosted our first conference "Going Deeper in Father's Love". The talks were recorded and are available online in the audio/visual section. Please feel free to listen online or to download them.

NEW VIDEOS
Over the last few weeks our new video “A Father to You – God’s Desire to Bring You Home” has been uploaded to the website. This is a four minute presentation showing the constant love of the Father who always wants to bring us back home, even when we rebel and go our own way. Please feel free to view this online or download it to your computer.

We believe that this will be a powerful tool to show the heart of the Father to a fatherless world. Our prayer is that many find His love through this as they watch it online or download it.

There is also another new video "Like A Child" which illustrates the need for us to have a childlike heart as we come to Father. This video can be used in conjunction with the notes in the Going Deeper section of the website or the talk with the same title.

EVENTS
Events in the UK during the Spring are listed on our Events page: www.afathertoyou.com/signposts/events.html. This is constantly being updated so please refer to it regularly.

AND FINALLY…..
May you know and experience the Father's presence with you in ever increasing measure.

In His Love

Mark Gyde