Cochrane Alliance Church

We have arrived at the book of Romans in the New Testament which is one of the most encouraging and instructive books in the whole Bible.  It should be especially meaningful to those of us who have persevered through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and now Numbers.  In Genesis we saw how Abraham lived by faith before the Law was given, and we are told that righteousness was credited to him for that faith. In Exodus the Law was given and in Leviticus very explicit rules were given about the way God’s people needed to conduct themselves before Him, all of which did not change the fact that Abraham was considered righteous without ever having been given those rules.  Paul, in his letter to the people of the church in Rome explains how faith and justification work, with or without the Law, and lays out the basic gospel in such a way that we should all be overjoyed by what has been made available to us through Christ.   More about that later as we read further. 

I am hearing from many corners that the instructions and details set out in Exodus and Leviticus seem a bit pointless and that the content is boring.  Yes, the instructions seem very repetitive and monotonous – I totally agree – but we do get a picture of what the Holiness of God is like, and that when He says, “Do it my way”, we had better listen. 

Interested in a free cup of Tim Horton's coffee? Then join Jason Koleba, Esther Aichele and others for an informal discussion on the 2010 by the Book initiative. Here are the details.

When: Sunday, March 7th from 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Where: Cochrane Alliance Church, Room 123.

What: A group discussion of our Bible-reading journey thus far. Come share what God has been doing in your life, learn from others and suggest ways we can better partner together for the next 10 months.

What do I bring?: We will provide Tim Horton's coffee free of charge. If you'd like to eat you are encouraged to bring a bagged-lunch.

What about Children?: We are prepared to provide a supervised room for kids to play while we have coffee. If this is a service you would like to use, please respond in the comments section below and we will make preparations accordingly.

I am grateful to all of you who have given feedback on your experiences with reading the Bible in 2010.  Hopefully some of the rest of you are also appreciating the comments of your co-participants.  Some of you have expressed interest in other reading programs, especially those which arrange the readings in more or less chronologial order.  If any of you would prefer to follow such a schedule, please send me an email request and I can provide you with one.

Esther

I have been encouraged by the number of times we have seen in our recent readings that the people of God have “spoken” to those who are seeking truth, or who are struggling with their faith, or even to those who out and out hate God and His people.  We saw Moses and Aaron speaking forth God’s words to the rulers of Egypt who rejected them at their peril.  But what I would like to focus on is the proclamation of the truth of the Gospel by the spoken word in the Book of Acts, and what the results of those words were.   

Some of us completed reading Genesis, the book of Beginnings, during January. We were introduced to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.  It was Jacob who fathered the twelve sons whose descendents became the twelve tribes of Israel and it was Jacob who gave wonderful blessings and assurances to his sons and grandsons before his death (48:15-16 and 49:1-28), including the Messianic prophecy regarding Judah (49:9-12).