Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Tag
“God With Us: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love!”
Filed under: Advent, Bible, By Pastor Timothy, By Tim Brassell, By Timothy Brassell, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Discipleship, Evangelism, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Liturgy, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Pentecost, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Resurrection, Sermons, Song, Spiritual Warfare, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Gospel Project, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:9, Adoption, Basic Christian Doctrine, Being In God's Family, Christian Faith, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Faith, GCI Baltimore, God Who Is Always Near, God's Faith, God's Grace, God's love, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Having The Peace Of God, Hope, How God Reveals Himself, Humanity Revealed, Humanity Revealed In Jesus, Isaiah 9:6, Jesus, joy, Knowing The Father's Love, Life's meaning and Significance, Love, New Life Fellowship Baltimore MD, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, Peace, Relationships, Revealing Your Life's Purpose, Romans 8:22-23, Sharing God More Accurately, Sharing In God's JOy, Sharing In God's Laughter, Sharing In The Divine Nature, The Basic Christian Belief, The God Who Is Love, the reason for your existence, Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Understanding God, Understanding Human Beings, Understanding Life's Calling, Who Is God?, Who Is Jesus?
Leave a comment Christmas Reveals The God Who Is Always Near
As Christmas approaches, many of us are not longing for more celebration, we are longing for relief. December often arrives with exhaustion. Schedules fill up, spending piles on, emotions run close to the surface, and even the gatherings we hope will bring connection can carry tension and unspoken strain. We rush toward one day of joy, only to feel strangely empty, tired, or deflated when it passes.
For many, this season doesn’t feel light or magical. It feels heavy. We carry grief, disappointment, unresolved relationships, financial pressure, and the sense that nothing quite goes the way we planned. Beneath the lights and songs, there can be a quiet cloud of weariness, sadness, and confusion.
Scripture does not ignore this reality. It names it honestly:
Romans 8:22–23 (CSB) “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”
And yet, this is exactly the kind of season into which Advent speaks.
As Advent comes to its close, we have been formed week by week by hope, peace, joy, and love. These are not passing emotions or seasonal themes. They are names for what happens when God comes near. Christmas is not the story of God stepping in only when things go wrong. It is the declaration that God has always intended to be with us, in joy and in sorrow, in clarity and in confusion. In Jesus Christ, God does not merely respond to human need; He reveals who He has always been.
Scripture tells us plainly how this love is made known:
1 John 4:9 (CSB) “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.”
Hope is born not because the world suddenly improves, but because God has arrived. Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of Christ. Joy is not the denial of suffering, but the deep assurance that life is held by God. Love is not something we create, but something we receive because God loved us first.
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit God define love for us. We do not define it ourselves.
As the apostle John declares: 1 John 4:8 (CSB) “God is love.”
1 John 4:16 (CSB) “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.”
These are not sentimental statements. They are theological declarations. They tell us that love is not merely what God does when circumstances demand it. Love is who God is. And Christmas represents the moment when that love takes flesh and dwells among us.
Theologian T. F. Torrance captures this truth beautifully: “God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has thereby pledged his very being as God for your salvation.”— T. F. Torrance, The Mediation of Christ, p. 94.
This is the heart of Christmas: God does not give us something other than Himself. He gives Himself. His love is self-giving, faithful, and permanent.
In a world filled with uncertainty and noise, Christmas reminds us that the most serious reality in our lives is not the chaos around us, but the God who has come to dwell with us. God is not distant. God is not neutral. God is near and He is love.
Writing in the midst of a broken and violent world, Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminded the Church: “God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, namely real human beings, the real world, this is for God the ground of unfathomable love.”
A Reflection Moment:
Pause for a moment and consider this: God did not wait for the world to become peaceful and perfect before coming near. God did not wait for us to become joyful or loving before acting. Love arrived first.
Where do you need to stop striving and simply receive this love again?
What fear might be loosened if you trusted that God has already moved toward you?
This Christmas, rest in and enjoy the good news that the One who is our hope, peace, joy, and love has come near and He is here to stay.
“For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
“The Gift of Jesus Christ ✨: God’s Ultimate Act of Love!”
Filed under: Advent, Ascension, Ascension of Jesus, Bible, By Karan Barthelmy-Harris, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Discipleship, Evangelism, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Liturgy, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Sermons, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Basic Christian Doctrine, Being In God's Family, Bible, By Pastor Timothy, By Tim Brassell, By Timothy Brassell, Christian Faith, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Evangelism, Faith, GCI Baltimore, GCI Windsor Mill, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's Faith, God's Grace, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, Having The Peace Of God, He is the hope, How God Reveals Himself, Humanity Revealed, Humanity Revealed In Jesus, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Isaiah 9: 6, Isaiah 9:7, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John 3:16, King and Savior, Knowing The Father's Love, Life's meaning and Significance, Love, Maryland, MD., Ministry, New Life Fellowship Baltimore MD, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Philippians 2:6-8, relationship with God, Relationships, Revealing Your Life's Purpose, Sermons, Sharing God More Accurately, Sharing In God's JOy, Sharing In God's Laughter, Sharing In The Divine Nature, Son and Holy Spirit, The Basic Christian Belief, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, The Father Loves and Like You Fest, The God Who Is Love, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, the reason for your existence, Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Uncategorized, Understanding God, Understanding Human Beings, Understanding Life's Calling, Union with Christ, Who Is God?, Who Is Jesus?, Worship, Worshipping Jesus Adoption
Leave a comment 
As we gather to celebrate Christmas, let us reflect on the words of Isaiah: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given” (Isaiah 9:6). These words proclaim the greatest gift ever given—Jesus Christ. In Him, God has not only given us blessings or good things; He has given us Himself.
Isaiah describes the names of this Child, each one brimming with meaning and hope. He is our Wonderful Counselor, offering wisdom and guidance. He is our Mighty God, strong to save and sustain us. He is our Everlasting Father, tender and protective. And He is the Prince of Peace, bringing reconciliation and hope to a broken world. These titles reveal the fullness of who Christ is—God’s perfect answer to the deepest needs of humanity.
Augustine of Hippo wrote, “God has given us Himself, the giver of all good things, as our delight, and in Him alone is true rest.” Christmas is not only a time to remember a historical event but to marvel at the mystery of the incarnation. God [Father-Son-Holy-Spirit], through His Son and by the Holy Spirit, stepped into our world, becoming one of us so that we might find rest, joy, and life in Him.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer beautifully captures this truth when he wrote, “The child in the manger is none other than God Himself, stepping into our world to bring us back to Him.” The manger is a picture of God’s humility—a God who left heaven’s glory to enter our brokenness and draw us near.
But we cannot consider the manger without remembering the cross. J.I. Packer reminds us, “The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity—hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory—because at the Father’s will, Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later, He might hang on a cross.” Christmas and Good Friday are inseparably linked. The baby born in Bethlehem came to take on the sin of the world, securing redemption for all who believe.
Athanasius of Alexandria puts it this way, “He became what we are so that He might make us what He is.” In His birth, Christ took on human flesh so that we might be restored to the image of God and receive the gift of divine life.
C. S. Lewis sums it up: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” This is the beauty of Christmas—that through Jesus, we are forgiven, adopted into God [Father-Son-Holy-Spirit]’s family, and made heirs of eternal life.
A Call to Reflection
This Christmas, may we not only celebrate the Child in the manger but bow in worship to the Savior and King who gave Himself fully for us. The Child born for you invites you to draw near, to rest in His love, and to share this hope with others.
Take time today to reflect on what it means that God gave Himself for you. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). How does the birth of Christ bring hope to your life, peace to your heart, and joy to your circumstances?
Remember, Christmas is a celebration not just of Christ’s birth but of His mission to redeem us. As Philippians 2:6-8 reminds us, “[Christ], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage… He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross.”
A Shared Celebration
As we celebrate Christmas, let us remember we are part of a story much greater than our own. Let us remember the fullness of His gift. HE is THE HOPE for a world lost in sin, THE PEACE for troubled hearts, and THE JOY that cannot be shaken. Isaiah’s words still ring true today. Together, as the body of Christ, we proclaim the GOOD NEWS: “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:7). Jesus Christ reigns as our eternal King, and in Him, we find our true rest, peace, joy and salvation.
A Prayer
Father, thank You for the gift of Jesus. In Him, we find hope, peace, and joy in relationship with You, our relational God. Help us to embrace the wonder of His birth, the humility of His life, and the power of His salvation in the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. May His love and light shine in and through our hearts this Christmas and always. Amen.
“JESUS: The Most Important PERSON and TASK For Everyone! Part 2” (Jesus’ Human Life / The Biblical Worldview)
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Evangelism, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Jesus Christ, Love, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, relationship with God, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Timothy Brassell, Uncategorized, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Baptism, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Faith Seeking Understanding, Gospel, Grace, Human Life, Human Nature, Human Nature Renewed, Important Relationships, Important Tasks, Jesus, Jesus' Human Life, Life Priorities, Love, Luke 2:52, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, Reconciliation with God, Relationships, The Baptism of Jesus, The Biblical Worldview, The Incarnation, The Incarnation of the Son, Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Vicarious humanity of Christ
Leave a comment 
Part 2A:
Part 2B:
Part 2C:
Full Message:
Bible Verses: Luke 2: 52 (Various Scriptures)
Theological Theme:
In relationship with Jesus His faith in us causes us to seek understanding about Who He is in His Person and Deeds, taking into account the entire course of His Human Life, with the help of the Holy Spirit. We’ve rehearsed Jesus’ Person and Work by grasping more of the meaning of His Virgin Birth. In this message we understand more basic and fundamentally the meaning of His Incarnate Life!
Christ Connection:
When Jesus lived He lived our life, meaning that as the Son of the Father united to us in our human nature He was the God/Man renewing our fallen human nature from the inside because he never sinned in it. Just as in Adam the human nature in which we all have shared became fallen, so in the one person of Christ the human nature in which we all shared was made right and saved! Jesus is more significant than Adam because He not only shared in our fallen human nature, but was also the One in, through, for and by Whom all things are created and made! He was both God and Man. This means that by his one human life, the human nature of everyone is now set on an entirely new basis! Where sin abounded (Adam), God’s grace in abounds even more (in Jesus!!)
Missional Application:
“Jesus embodied the unreserved presence of God with and for sinners. “Those who are well have no need of physician,” Jesus declares, “but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mt. 9:12f.). Christ’s incarnate humanity — his entire life, death, and resurrection among and on behalf of sinners — provides the basis for and the reality of reconciliation. He stands in our place and acts on our behalf to heal our humanity. His vicarious humanity — i.e., his substitutionary life and death in our place and representative humanity on our behalf — reconciles us to one another and to God. Social reconciliation is both an indicative and an imperative of the gospel of Jesus Christ, both gift and task, both command and promise.” – Ray Anderson
So, as we experience reconciliation with the Father-Son-Holy-Spirit-God that Christ accomplished, and because it is social – touching the lives of every human being – we share this Good News with others that they, too, might trust Christ and experience the gift and promise of real human life before the Father along with other believers!
Photo Compliments:
The Most Important TASK Done For Everyone Everywhere – JESUS CHRIST! (Our Christmas and Biblical Worldview)
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Discipleship, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Sermons, The Church, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4, Adoption, All Are Included In Christ, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Discipleship, father, Fruit of God's Grace, GCI Baltimore, God Father Son and Spirit, God in Flesh, God Incarnate, God Likes You, God The Father's Love, God the Trinity, God's Faith, God's Faithfulness, God's Gift, God's Grace, God's Healing, God's Hope, God's Humility, God's love, God's Love And Life, God's Love Is Concrete, God's Mercy, God's Mission, God's Patience, God's Power, God's Presence, God's Unconditional Love, Gospel, grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, Grace Communion International, Gregory of Nazianzen, Gregory The Theologian, Humanity Uplifted, Humility, Humility of God, Humility of Jesus, Incarnation, Included In Christ, James Torrance, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Is God's Love Revealed, Jesus is the way the truth and the life, jesus ministry, JESUS THE CHRIST, Jesus' Presence, Love, Luke 2, Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit, Participation with Jesus, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Perichoresis, Purpose, Receiving God's Love, Relationship With Jesus, Relationships, Salvation, Salvation By Grace Alone, Sharing God's Love With Others, Spiritual Maturity, Spirituality, The Father, The Father's Love, The Father-Son-and-Spirit-God, The Holy Spirit, The Incarnation of the Son, The Nicene Creed, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, unconditional acceptance, Unconditional Love, Union and Communion, Union with Jesus Christ, Wholeness in Christ, Worship, Worshipping Jesus
Leave a comment 
Part A:
Part B:
Full Message:
Bible Verse: Luke 2
Introduction:
Can you see from reading this section of the Nicene Creed what would be missing if as Christians we ONLY spoke about Jesus in terms of His birth (Christmas), His suffering, death and resurrection?
Excerpt about Jesus from the Nicence Creed
“We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through Him all things were made. For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit, He became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried. On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.”
What happens if we leave out His incarnate life for 33 years? What if after speaking about His Resurrection we stopped and never addressed His human Ascension and Bodily Return?
Theological Theme:
“Christ does not heal us as an ordinary doctor might, by standing over us, diagnosing our sickness, prescribing medicine for us to take and then going away, leaving us to get better as we follow His instructions. No, He becomes the patient. He assumes that very humanity which is in need of redemption, and by being anointed by the Spirit in our humanity, by a life of perfect obedience, by dying and rising again, for us, our humanity is healed in Him, in His person. We are not just healed through Christ, because of the work of Christ, but in and through Christ. Person and work must not be separated.” – James Torrance
Christ Connection:
Christ emptied himself so we may be filled
“The very Son of God, older than the ages, the invisible, the incomprehensible, the incorporeal, the beginning of beginning, the light of light, the fountain of life and immortality, the image of the archetype, the immovable seal, the perfect likeness, the definition and word of the Father: he it is who comes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature, and unites himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul, to purify like by like.
He takes to himself all that is human, except for sin. He was conceived by the Virgin Mary, who had been first prepared in soul and body by the Spirit; his coming to birth had to be treated with honor, virginity had to receive new honor. He comes forth as God, in the human nature he has taken, one being, made of two contrary elements, flesh and spirit. Spirit gave divinity, flesh received it.
He who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh, that I may gain the riches of his divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied for a brief space of his glory, that I may share in his fullness. What is this wealth of goodness? What is this mystery that surrounds me? I received the likeness of God, but failed to keep it. He takes on my flesh, to bring salvation to the image, immortality to the flesh. He enters into a second union with us, a union far more wonderful than the first.” – St. Gregory The Theologian
Missional Application:
Just as Jesus took on all the parts of our human nature and flesh through the history of a human life to bring us Salvation, as those in union with Jesus in the Spirit we participate with Him in all the parts of His human history and continued Lordship, pointing others to Him as their Salvation also!
Photo Compliments: slidetodoc.com
The Most Important PERSON For Everyone Everywhere – JESUS CHRIST! (Our Christmas and Biblical Worldview)
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Discipleship, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Liturgy, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Perichoresis, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Sermons, The Church, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Active Participation With Jesus, Adoption, All Are Included In Christ, birth of christ, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Discipleship, Evangelism, Fruit of God's Grace, GCI Baltimore, God Father Son and Spirit, God in Flesh, God Incarnate, God Likes You, God the Trinity, God's Faith, God's Faithfulness, God's Gift, God's Grace, God's Healing, God's Hope, God's Humility, God's love, God's Love And Life, God's Mercy, God's Mission, God's Patience, God's Power, God's Presence, God's Unconditional Love, Gospel, grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, Grace Communion International, haring the Gospel With Others, Humanity Uplifted, Humility, Humility of God, Humility of Jesus, Incarnation, Included In Christ, Jesus, Jesus Is God's Love Revealed, Jesus is the way the truth and the life, Jesus' Presence, Love, Luke 1, Luke 1: 26-38, Luke 1: 46-55, Luke 2, Luke 2: 30-32, Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit, Participation with Jesus, Participation with Jesus Christ, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Perichoresis, Purpose, Receiving God's Love, Relationship With Jesus, Relationships, Salvation, Salvation By Grace Alone, Salvation In Christ, Sharing God's Good News, Sharing Jesus With Others, son, Son of God, Spiritual Maturity, Spirituality, The Father, The Father's Love, The Father-Son-and-Spirit-God, The Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit Of Love, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Unconditional, unconditional acceptance, Union and Communion, Union With Jesus, Union with Jesus Christ, Wholeness in Christ, Worship, Worshipping Jesus
Leave a comment 
Part A:
Part B:
Full Message:
Bible Verse: Luke 2
Introduction:
Luke 1:26-38
1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
1:27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
1:28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
1:29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
1:30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
1:31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.
1:32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.
1:33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
1:34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
1:35 The angel said to her, “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 holy; he will be called Son of God.
1:36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.
1:37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
1:38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Theological Theme:
This story in Luke, noted above, is a good example of how we can preach and witness to others similarly about the Gospel!
vv.26-31 “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” You should start your witnessing with Who God is as Revealed in Jesus and who we are in Him – Favored!
v.31 “And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.” ONLY AFTER PROCLAIMING WHO GOD IS IN HIS WORDS AND DEEDS do you proclaim our participation with Him!
v.34 “Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’, 35 The angel said to her, ‘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 holy; he will be called Son of God.’”
All of this happens by the grace of God – from the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit!
Christ Connection:
“God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has thereby pledged [promised and given] his very being as God for your salvation. In Jesus Christ God has actualized [made actual and real] his unconditional love for you in your human nature in such a once for all way, that he cannot go back upon it without undoing the Incarnation and the Cross and thereby denying himself. Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart from your ever believing in him. He has bound you to himself by his love in a way that he will never let you go, for even if you refuse him and damn yourself in hell his love will never cease. Therefore, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.”- (T. F. Torrance, “The Mediation of Christ,” 94)
Missional Application:
As we are filled with the Love of the Father and Son Relationship in the Holy Spirit, we participate with God, compelled to go to all and say:
“In and through Jesus, God has included all people everywhere in a particular relationship with himself for just these purposes so that what has been fulfilled for us objectively in Jesus by the Spirit, will then be fulfilled in us personally (subjectively) by the Spirit via our deliberate, purposeful participation (response) as subjects who are moral, spiritual agents. What Christ did for us, he did so that the Holy Spirit could work a response out in us. When we understand that the person and work of Christ establishes or reestablishes a living, vital, personal relationship with all humanity, then the biblical teachings concerning inviting, admonishing, encouraging, directing, commanding and warning in regard to setting forth the fitting or appropriate response make sense.” – Gary Deddo
Our Father’s Gift of Jesus’ Life and Death!
Filed under: Ascension, Ascension of Jesus, Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Church, Discipleship, Faith, GCI Windsor Mill, Maryland, God, God Father Son and Spirit, God the Trinity, God's love, good news, Gospel, Grace Communion Baltimore, Grace Communion International, identity in Christ, Inclusion, Jesus Christ, Love, Ministry, New Life Fellowship Of Baltimore Maryland, New Life Fellowship Of Windsor Mill, MD., On Mission with Christ, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Prayer, relationship with God, Relationships, Sermons, Spiritual Warfare, The Church, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, The Gospel Project, The Holy Spirit, The Plan of Adoption, Timothy Brassell, Trinity, Uncategorized, union, Union In Christ, Union with Christ, Witness, Witnessing to God, Witnessing to Jesus, Worship, Worshiping God, Worshipping Jesus | Tags: Adoption, Baltimore GCI, Christian Living, Christmas, Confessing Sin, Consequences, Costly Grace, Creation, Discipleship, Father's gift, GCI Baltimore, God - Father-Son-and Holy Spirit, God Father Son and Spirit, God in Flesh, God Incarnate, God Likes You, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, God's Calling, God's discipline, God's Faith, God's Gift, God's Grace, God's Healing, God's Hope, God's Humility, God's Judgment, God's Law, God's love, God's Love And Life, God's Loving Authority, God's Mercy, God's Mission, God's Patience, God's Power, God's Presence, God's Spirit, God's Warnings, God: Father, Godly Leaders, Godly Leadership, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Guilt, healing, Humanity Uplifted, Humility, Incarnation, Included In Christ, Integrity, Jesus, Jesus is the way the truth and the life, Jesus' Authority, Jesus' life and death, Jesus' Presence, Jesus: True God True Man, Lord Jesus, Lordship, Love, Marriage, Marriage Relationships, Mary, One Life, One Truth, one way, Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit, Pain, Participation with Christ, Participation with Jesus, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Baltimore, Pastors, Purpose, Relationship With Jesus, Salvation By Grace, sex, Sin, Spiritual Maturity, Spirituality, The Father, The Father's Love, The Father-Son-and-Spirit-God, The Holy Spirit, The Life, the Truth, The Way, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Unconditional Love, Union and Communion, Union with Christ, Union With Jesus, Wholeness in Christ
Leave a comment 
Audio – Part A: 21min
Audio – Part B: 22min
Full Message:
Bible Verses: Luke 1 Hebrews 2 Luke 2: 1-20
Theological Theme:
The primary Gift given to humanity is the most Personal Gift you could ever get. It is nothing less than the Gift of God Himself [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] to us. That is all God really has to give us —the Gift of Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Christ Connection:
The Father’s Gift of Jesus’ Life and Death is God’s greatest gift to us. He lived the life we didn’t live so that we could truly live. Jesus died the death that all of us die so that our death would truly die and remain dead.
We are to understand the gospel as Jesus being given to us by the Father so that we would have His life, the way He lived, the way He thought and acted, the way he talked and related with His Father and other people. And Jesus lived this way by the Holy Spirit, and we live a true human life by the Holy Spirit!
Missional Application:
The word of Christ that believers share with others is this — Don’t underestimate the kind of life that is available to you right now in Christ. Jesus has come now so that we can, somehow, right now, begin to receive this transformed life. We don’t have to wait! Right now we can be full of The Holy Spirit, full of the smiles and hugs of The Father even as we still die and approach our death. We still do sin, but we no longer have to be sin centered and sin focused. We repent and believe the good news and encourage everyone else to do so! May we all receive Jesus now and say as Mary said: “I am The Lord’s servant –Son or daughter– may it be done to me according to your word.”
….those who trust in Christ share in his life, death, resurrection and ascension…just as we are dead already in Jesus’ substitutionary death, we have also already been “made alive together with him” and we are “raised up together with him” and “seated together with him in the heavenly realms.” All this comes from God’s grace and is experienced through faith—the faith of Jesus that he shares with us by the Spirit….
The benefit of what Jesus did so long ago extends to the past, to the present and into the future. Paul says, “how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” This shows that salvation is not a one-time event, but an enduring relationship that God has with all humanity—a relationship formed within the person of Jesus Christ, who has brought God and humanity together in peace.
Jesus has not simply done something for us, he has done something with us by including us in his life, death, resurrection and ascension. —GOD: THE GOD REVEALED IN JESUS CHRIST – A BOOKLET (GCI)
Merry Chaotic and Disturbance-filled Christmas?!
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Christmas, Gospel, Humor, Love, Relationships, Trinity, Uncategorized | Tags: Chaos, Christian Living, Christmas, Followers of Jesus, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, Gospel, Incarnation, Jesus, Love, Participation with Christ, Peace, Relational God Revealed, Suffering, Timothy Brassell, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity
Leave a comment 
Matthew 2:1-3 New International Version (NIV)
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod…[Herod] was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
I don’t know about you, but I want to run from Christmas chaos! I hate the thought of everything from the slowed up, jammed up traffic, to the packed out gas stations, highways, and stores of frenzied people pushing and shoving, literally, to get “deals” (or NOT because of getting punched by other people who snatch the “deals” right out of their greedy – oops – grubby little hands! HaHa!) Yikes!
But, as much as I hate all of that, I have to admit this atmosphere seems more true to the context in which Jesus was actually born 2000 years ago; only chaotic danger and disturbance when God enters the room in flesh, as one of us! I’m even thinking that maybe its sort of indictment against Christ’s Body, the Church, that there is not more chaos and crisis at Christmastime in our world at the proclamation of this Jesus Christ Who has entered it?
As I read Mathew’s story of Jesus’ birth, I am especially struck at how disturbing it is for the Son of God to come into the ordinariness and horrors of our broken world as man; how chaotic it really is (how disturbing it should be till everyone knows and trusts Him?! ) Everyone and everything disturbed at the entrance of the Son of God coming in flesh – “God With Us!” A marital engagement is disturbed by embarrassment and shame, and then met with the prospect of divorce before the wedding can happen! A king is disturbed enough about Jesus’ birth to lie, hunt for and cross regional lines to kill babies and toddlers hoping he killed Jesus! A family is on the run from an evil father and his ruthless ruling son!….hmmm…
Maybe Christmas isn’t really about encouraging a cute religious experience after all. Not about a nice teaching that will make people nicer and more peaceful. Maybe it’s not even about making people confident in going to heaven after “death by trampling” at the mall.
Maybe Christmas is about the Kingdom of the Father, Son and Spirit rumbling in like a jumbo jet and, through His Body the Church, fostering airwaves and noises of disturbance, prompting crises, as the Church excitedly and urgently encourages and warns its brothers and sisters of the need to get ready for the return of the Christ in “Christ”-mas???
As much as I’d like to know NOW the peace that is promised in Christ’s coming, I have to admit that because the God the Father sends His Son, in the Spirit, into the chaos of this world to be with it and see it saved, that’s the way he is still moving on earth in his Church Body till he returns bodily again! How could there not be chaos and crisis with God breaking into our world?; against evil and our broken human nature, to redeem what He has already redeemed in the glorified humanity of Jesus???
As N.T. Wright has written, for Jesus there is “No point in arriving in comfort, when the world is in misery; no point having an easy life, when the world suffers violence and injustice! If he is to be Emmanuel, God-with-us, he must be with us where the pain is.” Where the Head, Jesus, is, so must his Body, we, be, right?
Perhaps the real peace I long for, and you long for, at Christmas is where Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it was when he wrote, “There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture, and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security… To look for guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God’s commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying down the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross.”
Merry Cross-mas to You as We Enter the Chaos and Participate with Christ in His Loving Disturbance,
– tjbrassell
Photo courtesy of: http://www.muchoburrito.com
Christmas: God’s Plan and Response For Man!
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Children's Ministry, Christian Living, Christmas, Church, Easter, Evangelism, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Humor, Love, Ministry, Prayer, Relationships, Sermons, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Plan of Adoption, Trinity, Uncategorized, Worship | Tags: Adoption, Advent, Advent Season, Bible, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas message, Church, Co-suffering, disciples, Discipleship, Evangelism, evil, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, good news, Gospel, Grace, Incarnation, Jesus, Love, new life fellowship, overcoming evil, Pastor Tim, Purpose, Relationships, Salvation, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Sufferings of Christ, The Suffering Servant, Timothy J. Brassell, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Worship
Leave a comment 
“https://trinityandhumanity.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/15-12-20-christmas-gods-plan-and-response-for-man-matt-1-2-9-10-tah.mp3”
In this Message on the 4th week of Advent, and heading toward Christmas, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed to those gathered in worship at New Life Fellowship of Baltimore. The special emphasis of this message is that just as the Head, Jesus, was born into this world 2000 years ago as God’s Plan and Response for humanity, His Body, the Church, follows Him today, participating with Him in his ongoing work of redemption in this present world!
Check it out and be assured and unafraid as you GO with Jesus into our world, proclaiming Him in word and deed!
picture courtesy of ad-ne.org
God’s Coming Humanly Means God’s Going Humanly!
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Christmas, Church, Evangelism, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Liturgy, Love, Ministry, Perichoresis, Prayer, Relationships, Scripture Paraphrases, Sermons, Song, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Plan of Adoption, Trinity, Uncategorized, Worship | Tags: Adoption, Advent, Ascension, Bible, blessings, born again, born from above, Christ in our place, Christ in us, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas message, Church, compassion, disciples, disciples of Christ, Discipleship, Forgiveness, Forgiveness of Sin, God, God Father Son and Spirit, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, God's adopted sons and daughters, God's Amazing Grace, God's Coming, God's Going, God's good news, God's Grace, God's Judgment, God's Will, God: Father, good news, Gospel, Grace, gratitude, Holy Spirit, human, Incarnation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, jesus ministry, JESUS THE CHRIST, Jesus's coming, life, Love, new life fellowship, parousia, Participation, Participation with Christ, Pastor Tim, Pastor Timothy Brassell, Preaching, Purpose, Questions, real struggle, Reality, Receiving Christ, Receiving God's Love, Relational God Revealed, relationship with God, Relationships, repentance, response, Resurrection, Rhythms of Grace, Salvation, Scriptures, second coming, Sin, Sinners, Suffering, The One for the Many, Theology, Through Jesus Christ, Timothy Brassell, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, victory, Will of God, Worship
Leave a comment 
Do you wonder how you can live through suffering in a way where you are still filled with FAITH, HOPE and LOVE? Where you can know VICTORY and experience New Life and a Higher Dimension of LIFE and DIGNITY?
On this 1st Sunday after Christmas, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship of Baltimore points us to the answer to this dilemma in this GOSPEL FILLED GOOD NEWS message entitled, “God’s Coming Humanly Means God’s Going Humanly”and shows through Hebrews 10: 19-25 that, God Father, Son and Spirit KNOW and SHARE IN our real suffering through JESUS CHRIST! In Christ, God reveals that He is not one who stands apart from suffering, but One who stands WITH US, stands ESPECIALLY IN HUMAN SUFFERING!
Listen and understand better that:
~God’s coming as a human being, him becoming human through Christ, means He comes not just in our celebrations but in the depths of our human sufferings!
~Since the Ascension of Christ, humanity has a hope built on an accomplished fact that humanity could not have before the Ascension. That God has taken up our cause in CHRIST and not only cried our cries but in the resurrection and ascension He has ANSWERED our cries and has VICTORY over them now, IN HIS PRESENT HUMAN BEING! In Christ, God has been a Gift for Himself and for us!!
~The most clear understanding of who God is, IS JESUS CHRIST! Understand our participation with Christ now in the “Rhythms of Grace” and not “Regulations of Law”, as ways of relating with Our Father and Jesus in the Spirit !
~The most clear understanding of who man is, IS JESUS CHRIST! To see Jesus from His birth to His Ascension before the Father is how we understand what it really means to be human, since Jesus is and always has been God’s Plan for Man in man’s adoption!
~God’s Coming Humanly Always means God’s Going Humanly! His coming always means His going = God’s Being a Living, Active and Dynamic Lord, filled with Life and Movement! NOT A STATIC GOD!
WILL YOU COME AND GO WITH HIM, as His chosen disciple?
Christmas: What It Means! Why It Matters!
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Christmas, Church, Evangelism, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Humor, Love, Ministry, Perichoresis, Prayer, Relationships, Scripture Paraphrases, Sermons, Song, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Plan of Adoption, Trinity, Uncategorized, Worship | Tags: Adoption, Advent, Bible, blessings, born again, born from above, Christ in our place, Christ in us, Christian Living, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas message, Church, compassion, Forgiveness, Forgiveness of Sin, God, God Father Son and Spirit, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, God's adopted sons and daughters, God's Amazing Grace, God's good news, God's Grace, God's Judgment, God's Will, good news, Gospel, Grace, gratitude, Holy Spirit, Incarnation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, jesus ministry, JESUS THE CHRIST, Jesus's coming, life, Love, new life fellowship, Participation, Participation with Christ, Pastor Tim, Pastor Timothy Brassell, Preaching, Purpose, Questions, real struggle, Reality, Receiving Christ, Receiving God's Love, Relational God Revealed, relationship with God, Relationships, repentance, response, Salvation, Sin, Sinners, Suffering, The One for the Many, Theology, Through Jesus Christ, Timothy Brassell, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, What Christmas means, Why Christmas matters, Will of God, Worship
Leave a comment 
On this 4th Sunday Of Advent 2014, Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship of Baltimore delivers this Christmas message filled with ASTOUNDING GOSPEL GOOD NEWS entitled, “Christmas: What it Means! Why it Matters! and shows through John 1: 1-14 that because JESUS IS THE WORD made flesh, CHRISTMAS MEANS: That God in Jesus LISTENS to us and FEELS us – That God is CHRIST LIKE, he has revealed himself in Christ – That man was made in the LIKENESS of GOD.
In this message we grasp how Christmas helps us:
~ Rehearse why it is important to hold to the fact that Christ shared in our actual and sinful, human flesh, inherited from Mary, His mother, AND “dwelt among US” and not in some other make-believe fantasy world that doesn’t exist!
~ Recognize and Live more fully in Reality in our daily lives, and in line with Who God is as Revealed in Jesus Christ, and who we are in Jesus; Recognize what Christ’s Ministry and Mission can and should look like among believers.
~ Respond to the burning questions: “Does God REALLY Care?” “Who and What is God REALLY Like? and “Will God REALLY turn out to be like Jesus?”
~ Realize why every human being has worth and is full of dignity even in this present, evil age (while also understanding reasons why the horrors of Nazi Germany happened and how its rotten strategies and effects are still being played out in our ordinary lives all over the world!)
….and MORE…
Photo compliments http://www.neloo.com