An Orderly Account

What have you naturally found compelling or challenging in believing the Christmas story of Jesus’s incarnation?

Read Luke 1:1-4. What do you observe about God from this passage? What does this story teach us about who God is, what he cares about, and how he cares for his people? Anything that surprises you or sparks questions?

In what ways does Luke’s purpose in writing to Theophilus invite you to share the Christmas story with someone? Who could be your Theophilus this Advent?

Charles Spurgeon, in his Morning and Evening Devotions wrote: “Remember, therefore, it is not your hold of Christ that saves you -it is Christ…therefore, look not so much to your hand with which you are grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to your hope, but to Jesus, the source of your hope; look not to your faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul.” How does this spiritual direction strengthen your certainty in the truth of the incarnation? In what ways can you practice the kind of rest to the soul particularly in an often busy time of year?

This Advent we are invited to respond as we hope Theophilus did: by taking up God’s Word, reading it and clinging to the saving work of Jesus. In what ways are you doing this during the Advent season?

Read Luke 24:18-27. Jesus is the driving force of the Bible and of the believer’s life. Like a magnetic field is to a compass, we are oriented correctly when we are ordering our lives by God revealed in the Bible by the Holy Spirit. How does this passage challenge or encourage you in celebrating Advent?