1. Week One—Amazing Beginnings

Words To Live By He has helped his servant Israel, Remembering to be merciful To Abraham and his descendants forever, Just as he promised our ancestors. Mary in Luke 1:54-55 (NIV) What does home mean to you? You may have grown up in a wonderful home with precious memories. If home reminds you of pain, however, do you have a place or person that gives you a sense of love, acceptance and safety? That’s what Jesus does. Only he provides all we need to feel loved, cared for and secure. He embodies the family that we all desire. We can trust our God who greatly loves us. Read our Words to Live By, found at the top of this page. Mary’s words remind us that God is a promise-keeping, trustworthy God. Although his timetable isn’t ours, he remembers and acts just as promises. Throughout the First Testament (Old Testament), God promised a coming Anointed One (the meaning of Messiah in Hebrew) to make all things right and deliver his people Israel. Luke’s gospel is the story of that promised one, Jesus. As we follow Luke’s story of the Christ (Greek for Anointed One) through three years of ministry and his journey to the cross, our response is to come home to him in awe as the God who came to ...