December 2019 | Truth and Life Magazine by Back to the Bible Canada

DECEMBER 2019

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WHAT'S INSIDE DECEMBER 2019

A Vision for Christmas page 4 Ben Lowell and Dr. John Neufeld

What Isaiah Saw page 10 Dr. John Neufeld

Milton's White Christmas

page 9

DR. JOHN'S DAILY BIBLE READING PLAN

page 12 Phil Callaway page 14

She Believed page 16 Krista Penner

Putting Christ Back in Christmas page 18 Joshua Scott

INTRODUCING YOUTUBE'S LAUGHAGAIN TV

VISION FOR CHRISTMAS

We want to begin by asking a personal question; do we, do you need a renewed vision for Christmas? A vision so grand, as was the experience of Isaiah, that from that this point forward our understanding of an all glorious, sufficient God would be marvellously transformed? To fully understand Christmas, to understand the magnitude of the season, it’s absolutely imperative that we spend time with Isaiah. Who hasn’t heard Isaiah 7:14? “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Or has any Christmas gone by without reading or hearing Isaiah 9:6? “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” But apart from some of our favourite verses, what is Isaiah all about? The book of Isaiah, chapters 6-11, sets the stage for the introduction of a coming King. And it begins with the words, “The vision of Isaiah”. Isaiah prophesied over a period of more than 50 years, and yet, he claims that

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his life’s work was really the result of one vision, and everything he saw after that was an extension of that one vision of a glorious God. Christmas is exactly that. It is the vision of the one glorious God breaking into history with wonderful, world altering news. A child is born, and His name is Immanuel. God is with us! Nothing would ever be the same! Isaiah’s vision provided for him a unique clarity, a unique understanding of God’s plan of salvation. Our vision is renewed, our passion invigorated as we are reminded of the privilege of sharing the truths of Scripture that present a clear picture of a gracious God. Every message taught, article written, or otherwise is to bring people into a clear understanding of who God is, the truth and hope found in the Bible, and salvation found only through Jesus.

It’s such an encouragement to the power of God’s Word when we hear from believers across the country growing in their clarity and understanding of the Bible, and deepening their walk with Jesus. “I am an immigrant to Canada; have been living here for the past 10 years. Thank you for the enormous work you are doing! Your insights and in-depth teachings have led me to so much deeper understanding of God.” “I am a Pastor in Toronto… I am very thankful to be able to listen to this daily podcast and have my own life and ministry enriched…” “My 15yr old also listens to Back to the Bible in the evening, I know I can trust what he hears…” People of all backgrounds and ages need to embrace the Word of God that speaks clearly the message of Christ. The vision for the ministries of Back to the Bible Canada, including our young adult ministry indoubt, could not be more clear. We need only take a quick scan of the world around us to see and hear the competing messages of secularism, selfism, and liberalism. The messages that would draw people away from Christ and His Church are more prominent than ever. Amid the ever-increasing haze of content consumption, the message of Christ which offers hope and eternity to the world must be pronounced boldly to pierce the darkness! This Christmas, we’re asking you to embrace this great vision with

us. To stand shoulder to shoulder in advancing the clear message of the gospel. To share a vision, as we share an undeterred resolve to use every resource that Back to the Bible Canada is privileged to receive for His purposes! December is the time of year that sets the tone for the new year of ministry ahead. Your gifts this month will facilitate and promote the clear message of Christ being taught and heard across our nation and around the world. So, whether you are a longstanding partner in ministry, or if you’ve been impacted through any of the ministries of Back to the Bible Canada more recently, we’re asking you to join with us in this effort to raise $465,000 by December 31st. Your gift will make a profound difference in sustaining and growing this Bible teaching ministry. Isaiah’s vision of a coming Saviour changed everything! This same message conveyed through the faithful teaching of the Bible will continue to change everything in the lives of so many. This Christmas, let us be resolved as Isaiah to announce with clarity and passion the arrival of the coming King! In Christ,

BEN LOWELL & DR. JOHN NEUFELD

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Dr. Neufeld's Daily Bible Reading Plan DE C E M B E R 2 019

JA N UA RY 2 0 2 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Ezekiel 40-41; 2 Peter 3 Ezekiel 42-44; 1 John 1 Ezekiel 45-46; 1 John 2 Ezekiel 47-48; 1 John 3 Daniel 1-2; 1 John 4 Daniel 3-4; 1 John 5 Daniel 5-7; 2 John Daniel 8-10; 3 John Daniel 11-12; Jude Hosea 1-4; Revelation 1 Hosea 5-8; Revelation 2 Hosea 9-11; Revelation 3 Hosea 12-14; Revelation 4 Joel 1-3; Revelation 5 Amos 1-3; Revelation 6 Amos 4-6; Revelation 7 Amos 7-9; Revelation 8 Obadiah; Revelation 9 Jonah 1-4; Revelation 10 Micah 1-3; Revelation 11 Micah 4-5; Revelation 12 Micah 6-7; Revelation 13 Nahum 1-3; Revelation 14 Habakkuk 1-3; Revelation 15 Zephaniah 1-3; Revelation 16 Haggai 1-2; Revelation 17 Zechariah 1-4; Revelation 18 Zechariah 5-8; Revelation 19 Zechariah 9-12; Revelation 20 Zechariah 13-14; Revelation 21 Malachi 1-4; Revelation 22

Genesis 1-3; Matthew 1 Genesis 4-6; Matthew 2 Genesis 7-9; Matthew 3 Genesis 10-12; Matthew 4 Genesis 13-15; Matthew 5:1-26 Genesis 16-17; Matthew 5:27-48 Genesis 18-19; Matthew 6:1-18 Genesis 20-22; Matthew 6:19-34 Genesis 23-24; Matthew 7 Genesis 25-26; Matthew 8:1-17 Genesis 27-28; Matthew 8:18-34 Genesis 29-30; Matthew 9:1-17 Genesis 31-32; Matthew 9:18-38 Genesis 33-35; Matthew 10:1-20 Genesis 36-38; Matthew 10:21-42 Genesis 39-40; Matthew 11 Genesis 41-42; Matthew 12:1-23 Genesis 43-45; Matthew 12:24-50 Genesis 46-48; Matthew 13:1-30 Genesis 49-50; Matthew 13:31-58 Exodus 1-3; Matthew 14:1-21 Exodus 4-6; Matthew 14:22-36 Exodus 7-8; Matthew 15:1-20 Exodus 9-11; Matthew 15:21-39 Exodus 12-13; Matthew 16 Exodus 14-15; Matthew 17 Exodus 16-18; Matthew 18:1-20 Exodus 19-20; Matthew 18:21-35 Exodus 21-22; Matthew 19 Exodus 23-24; Matthew 20:1-16 Exodus 25-26; Matthew 20:17-34

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WHAT ISAIAH Sfl DR. JOHN NEUFELD Dr. John is the Bible Teacher at Back to the Bible Canada.

If you only know a few New Testament books well, they should be Genesis, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and a number of the Psalms. They are key to understanding the rest. But there is one book that stands out amongst these 4 books: Isaiah. While that’s quite something to say, it is the truth. At times, Isaiah might seem hard to understand but make no mistake- Isaiah 6-11 is the key to Christmas. Those

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chapters help us understand the importance of the birth of Jesus. Without Isaiah, we won’t understand Christmas. All human beings are lost in sin and are helpless to save themselves. And yet, in marvelous mercy God sent His son Jesus to save people from their sins! If you were to ask the prophet Isaiah, he’d agree.

Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned – every one – to his own way...”

breaking apart, and in its place is an increasing clash of values. Can we hold this thing together?

Just like helpless sheep who can’t find their way home, the entire human race is helpless. The message of Isaiah is simple. Only the Lord can save you.

Isaiah would say, as recorded in Isaiah 40:28, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable.”

In the day of trouble, the things your hands have made and the things you worship will not be able to rescue you. They can’t save you! When the day of disaster lies at hand, you will find no salvation in the things of this world. If you trust them, you’re going to be humiliated. Think of the things that we have come to trust in. We believe that our economy will save us; for the free-enterprise system will always endure. We have been able to harness the forces of nature; we have become masters of science. We have multiplied our technology to safeguard us against the day of trouble. But if we’re being honest, those of us who live with these idols are feeling increasingly vulnerable. Like the days of Isaiah, we have an uneasy sense that the storm clouds are on the horizon. Our culture is beginning to fray at the edges. The unity we once thought we had in our values is

Only Yahweh of Israel can save. We need a Saviour, but many of us are calling out in the wrong direction. That’s the hope in Isaiah. A Great Saviour will come, but not because men and women are asking God for one. We are so lost. We don’t even know that our idols are crumbling in our hands. No, a Great Saviour will come because it is the Lord’s will to do this. To be gracious to a lost people! What has all that to do with Christmas? Everything! Isaiah sees the world as living in the reality of the shadow of death. And in this world of gloom and darkness, a great and unexpected light from God shone forth. This is what the birth of Jesus is. That’s the vision Isaiah saw.

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MILTON’S WHITE CHRISTMAS PHIL CALLAWAY Phil Callaway, the host of Laugh Again, is an award-winning author and speaker, known worldwide for his humorous yet perceptive look at life. Residing in Alberta, Canada with Ramona and their three children.

h, winter. That season when our mothers draped us in forty pounds of parka, thick mittens, and winter boots so heavy you could barely walk to school. “You’ll catch your death of cold,” Mom said while wrapping four or five scarves around my head and pulling them so tightly that all I could see was stars. I had to feel my way to school. If I fell over, I rolled a little, but I couldn’t get up. Just stayed in a snowdrift until school was over and someone had mercy on me. Other than that, I loved winter. Snow meant snow forts, snow men, and plunging downhill 12

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on rickety toboggans. Being the youngest, I often found myself beneath piles of snow with my brothers perched atop. If my sister didn’t dig me out, I might still be there. I was the youngest, so I would hide somewhere, rain down four or five hardpacked snowballs straight at my brothers, then run like the wind. As I aged, snow lost its magic. It became inconvenient. Uncomfortable. It got in my boots, covered my car, my driveway, my sidewalk. I saw the white stuff and longed for green stuff. I fired up search engines and hunted for cheap flights to the tropics. When that

school kid, building his first snow man, tasting his first snowflake. “I love snow!” he said, laughing. We Canadians shivered and looked at him like he had a screw loose. Milton didn’t care. He was having too much fun. “God loves me so much,” he said, looking heavenward. “He let me see snow.” Suddenly I found myself grinning and thanking God for that snow. Thanking God that Milton got to see it. And I thought, How did I lose the wonder of childhood? Would it ever return?

first November, October, or July blizzard hit, we groaned and grudgingly grab the shovels. At one time, snow had meant ice hockey and licking icicles; I grew up and it came to mean frozen appendages. Then Milton came to town. He came from Uganda to stay with my son, Steve. Milton had heard of snow, but hadn’t seen it. The day after he arrived in Canada, the cold stuff left the clouds above and descended, throwing around him a soft blanket of white. The rest of us mourned the loss of summer. Not Milton. He danced and giggled. He frolicked in the snow like a

Smiling at Milton I thought of a Bible verse that speaks of snow and the wonder of God’s mercy. “Come, let’s talk this over!” says the Lord; “no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!” (Isaiah 1:18). Milton is back in Uganda now where he listens to Laugh Again. And today, in honour of him, I think I’ll put on 40 pounds of clothing and roll to work.

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Through engaging and thoughtful discussion with leaders around the world, indoubtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission is to help young adults strengthen their beliefs and views of life, faith, and culture through a biblical perspective.

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SHE BELIEVED KRISTA PENNER A speaker and writer, and lives in Mission, B.C. Krista works for Fellowship Pacific in Leadership Development and loves to connect people to Jesus.

ary. If you look at the pictures, she glows. She has a halo of light around her head and she looks great, especially right after she gives birth. We see the beautiful story unfold as the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her that she would give birth to God’s son. She had been chosen to bring the Messiah into the world. “I am the Lords’ servant, and I am willing to accept whatever He wants.” What we fail to remember when we read this wonderful account is that Mary did not have a husband. She was a young woman who was

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pregnant out of wedlock. She was faced with rejection by the man to whom she was engaged. She was faced with the rejection of her community because her outward appearance did not speak to the whole truth of her circumstance. Mary’s circumstances put her in a bad light. Mary could only rely on the Lord, because her world had been turned upside down and nobody understood it. Mary’s Christmas story in many ways speaks to the stories of our own lives. Family circumstances too horrifying to speak about. Children who have left their faith behind, parents who are dying,

months and then she quietly gave birth. She quietly cared for Him as he grew up and all the while she was blessed because she believed. Did everyone understand her circumstances? Absolutely not. Things are no different for us. When out situations look hopeless, all that God requires is that we have faith in Him.

GOD PROMISES TO:

financial stresses that leave us feeling hopeless, our own failing health. Just like Mary, all we have is our faith. All we have is our belief that God will see us through. “You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what He said.” What did the Lord say to Mary? He would give her a child that would save the world, a child who would be holy, the Son of God. Mary willingly accepted what, on the outside, looked like a horrible set of circumstances that God had given her. She quietly carried the Son of God within her for nine

Never leave us or forsake us. “The Lord your God will go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6-8 Give us peace. “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27 The greatest tradition of the Christmas Season is not your perfect party plans or your timely Christmas greetings or your menu selections. The greatest tradition was the one that Mary started for us when she believed that what the Lord said He would do HE WOULD DO! She believed, and she was blessed for it. BACK TOTHEBIBLE.CA

Putting Christ Back in Christmas JOSHUA SCOTT Joshua is one of the hosts of indoubt. He also serves as the Young Adults Pastor at Maple Ridge Baptist Church in Maple Ridge, BC.

hristmas is all about Christ. I mean, He's right there in the name! Christmas. Every year there's a stream of messages in the Church calling us to remember that we don't celebrate Santa Claus; we don't just revel in the material goodness of giving; we don't just finally have an excuse to sing along with Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." We celebrate the coming of Jesus. And these reminders are an incredible gift. They really shouldn't get boring! As much you may feel like you've heard it all before, don't let the wonder of God made flesh and the coming of Christ slip through your fingers. But I want us to take a minute to see that though the central figure of Christmas is Jesus Christ, the whole Godhead was

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involved in that magnificent day, and when we look at them all together we see not only the humility of Christ, but also the love of a Father, and the power of His Spirit. We all know John 3:16, but let's think about it in the frame of Christmas. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." When we think about that little baby born in a stable and laid in a manger, it's not merely the story of Jesus coming to earth. It's the story of a Father sending His only Son. But what's amazing is that this verse in John 3 isn't about God's love for His Son, it's about how He loved the world! He loved the world by sending His only Son, knowing that the world would

south, and steps on to planet earth. No, there's a profound mystery here. It's not outside of our imagination to think of God creating a little baby. I mean, He made Adam and Eve out of dust and a rib. But what's even more mysterious is that Jesus is not simply another man, He's the God-man. This is the only time in history, ever, that God was robed in flesh. And who was it that orchestrated such a supernatural event? It was the Spirit of God, in all His mighty power. reject Him and finally put Him to death. So, at Christmas when we celebrate the coming of Jesus, we also celebrate a Father sending His Son to a world that had rejected Him. But we also need to think of the Spirit's work on that day. In Luke 1:35, we have a piece of the conversation between Mary and the angel who appears to her. Mary's wondering just how it could be possible for her to conceive a child when she's still a virgin and the angel says this, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the Son of God." When we think about Christmas, it's not simply that Jesus walks off His throne in heaven, takes an hour road trip

At Christmas, as we light those advent candle's celebrating the coming of Christ, we're also celebrating the power of God's Holy Spirit, who took divinity and wrapped it in humanity. So though we hear about the humility of Christ just about every Christmas, and rightly so since He stepped down from glory "taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men" (Phil 2:7), we need to realize that much more happened that day for us to celebrate. A Father sent His only Son, The Spirit worked a marvel, and The Son stepped down. All for the sake of a world that needed saving but sure didn't deserve it.

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