Monday 30th November 2020

Beside The Burn
Join us during Advent as we realise, “Christmas Is Different - Jesus Is Better”. Each day we delve into the book of Hebrews, fix our eyes on Jesus and realise that He is better than everything else. Better than the worst things of this year, but also better than the best things we have ever experienced. Each day there is a short video based on a passage from Hebrews. By Christmas Day we will have read through the whole book of Hebrews, but more importantly we will have looked to Jesus each day and discovered that “Jesus is Better!”

Today we have an introduction video followed by the first study.

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Let’s Pray Derek and Jane French (global mission workers, Spain)  

Give thanks for six new people who have joined Bilbao International Church since September. Pray that they will settle in well and feel at home.

Derek and Jane French (global mission workers, Spain) 

Andamio (the publishing branch of GBU – student ministry in Spain) has published a new resource for 7-14 year olds to use during December. Pray that through it, many will come to faith in Jesus. Pray too for Derek and Jane as they continue to serve.

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Advent Meditation (7 minute video)
Below is a short meditation for Advent based on the Hymn - O Come O Come Emmanuel and a reading from the Prophet Isaiah. Produced by the Bible Society and Movement Day UK.

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Fixated
An advent devotional book by Tim Chester looking at the book of Hebrews. I haven’t read this book but you may find it a helpful companion to our own Advent series from Hebrews. The readings will not correspond to our daily videos but you may want some extra information. The paperback is sold out but you can buy the ebook version for half price.
https://www.10ofthose.com/uk/products/27181/fixated#summary

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Word Of The Day (1 minute video)
Canon J. John has been recording a word of the day since the first lockdown began in  March. I may be a bit late at discovering this but they are still worth sharing, and all presented in less than a minute.

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Mess - Can You Add 3 Letters?
From the Bible Society.
Mess. It’s just one word. One syllable that brings to mind a whole load of images….messy ones! And at Christmas time, this one messy syllable word seems to shift into top gear! I remember when I was young, my brother and I would tear through our festive wrapped gifts as if we were competing in an Olympic sport (winter Olympics of course). I think of the post-Christmas dinner-plate pile-up in the kitchen and the décor of celebration wrappers between the sofas (the Malteaser ones!)

It’s fair to say there was a fair bit of mess at the very first Christmas too. As Mary and Joseph trekked down to Bethlehem for a census, there was no room for them to stay. So the young couple welcomed Jesus into the world, with a bunch of animals as his roommates (some scholars claim it was almost as bad as living with students).

But Jesus didn’t just enter the mess of a downstairs room with a feeding trough, he entered the mess of our world too. It was a message that has been posted in versus throughout scripture, one will come to fix up the mess. And if we invite him, he even enters the mess of our lives and offers to fix us.

The Christmas story involves Mess, but it’s not the central story. It’s about the one who was born in the Mess. You see ‘Mess’ is only central to the Christmas story when it’s an abbreviation. There’s 3 letters added to the Mess - i.a.h. and those letter changes everything.

Watch this spoken word piece from Dai Woolridge

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Jigsaw
The times for yesterday’s Jigsaw

Jean 11:22
Derek 15:18

​Play the "White Rocks Mon" puzzle!
https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=24f56570f8d7