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Weekend Preview – Peace

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Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will look at Luke 2:13-14 and the announcement by a group of the heavenly host giving glory to God and proclaiming peace through the birth of Jesus Christ. So…peace will be our theme.

Here’s a great quote on peace to prep you:

Graeme Goldsworthy in Prayer and the Knowledge of God:

Peace is not an inner calm and serenity (although it may from time to time produce this effect), but our reconciliation with the God we have offended by our rebellion against him. (p.166)

Our issues with lacking peace aren’t so much about others as the vertical relationship we have with God. Therefore, come Sunday, planning to see the reconciliation offered you through Jesus.

Help for Your Christmas Get-Togethers…

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…from Peacemaker Ministries (Peacemeal Weekly Devotional):

In many situations, the best way to resolve a conflict is simply to overlook the personal offenses of others. This approach is highly commended throughout Scripture:
“A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense” (Prov. 19:11; cf. 12:16; 15:18; 20:3).

“Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out” (Prov. 17:14; cf. 26:17).

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8; cf. Prov. 10:12; 17:9)

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Eph. 4:2).

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Col. 3:13; cf. Eph. 4:32).

A Gospel Shaped Christmas…

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Stephen Altrogge had a great post over at Crossway entitled When the Gospel Transforms Your Christmas Expectations. Here’s how he began to engage:

I have certain expectations when it comes to Christmas. I expect to drink egg nog, even though I don’t really like it. I expect to listen to hours upon hours of Christmas carols. I expect to watch the movie Elf. I expect to drive around with my family and look at Christmas lights. And I expect to get some gifts. Twenty-eight years of Christmas experience has taught me what to expect.

But how would I feel if some of my expectations weren’t met? What if I didn’t get to do the things that I so look forward to? No Elf. No Christmas lights. No nog. No gifts. Could I be happy? Could I be content? Could I rejoice in what I have instead of what I don’t have?

He then goes on to show all that we have received in the Gospel: namely, Forgiveness, Fellowship with God, Freedom. How about you? if all the “stuff” of Christmas was tossed, would you still have joy? Great question. Allow this article to shape you.

On Nativity Scenes, Christian Liberty, Etc.

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I love reading Mark Lauterbach’s Gospel Driven Life site. Today, he had a post entitled Liberty, legalism and Christmas which answered the question offered by some religious zealots that having a nativity scene is a violation of the 2nd commandment (to not make any “graven image”). Here’s a section I especially enjoyed:

So, hear me clearly — to walk with God we must make those choices and do it knowing that we are pleasing to God. But Romans 14 says we dare not step into the role of law-giver and judge — despising or judging. I am personally tempted to despise men who add to the Word of God. That is sin in my heart.

Read Romans 14 carefully — stew in it, soak in it — it is remarkable. In it, God answers ten thousand secondary questions that would rise in all the cultures of the world where the Gospel is believed. Paul was wise — he knew that when we start into the answering of all those questions and application and start developing a list of appendices to the Law, we are on a path of diversion from the purposes of God and the freedom of the Gospel.

Why don’t you check out the post for yourself.

Weekend Recap – Joy

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This weekend’s sermon from Sunday AM is now online. It is entitled Joy from Luke 2:8-12. The sermon sought to reason how the Gospel is good news of great joy.

After the AM service, we had our Annual Member’s meeting, affirming one lay elder and 4 men as deacons. We also approved the 2011 Budget.

In the PM, the joy continued as Ben Cornish shared with us of the Gospel’s advance in Australia. We are rejoicing in his partnership with us in the Gospel. Awesome day.

O Holy Night (Gospelicious Version)

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Today in our corporate worship, Mandy Swisher blessed us with O Holy Night, done with different lyrics than we know. Some commented on where I found them, so here’s the links and the lyrics themselves.

Bob Kauflin’s List of Songs for Christmas 2010 pointed me to…

Kevin Hartnett’s version of O Holy Night:

Verse One (Placide Cappeau, trans. John S. Dwight)

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Verse Two (Kevin Hartnett)

Humbly He lay, Creator come as creature,
Born on the floor of a hay-scattered stall.
True Son of God, yet bearing human feature,
He entered earth to reverse Adam’s fall.
In towering grace, He laid aside His glory,
And in our place, was sacrificed for sin.
Fall on your knees! O hear the gospel story!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Verse Three (Kevin Hartnett)

Come then to Him Who lies within the manger,
With joyful shepherds, proclaim Him as Lord.
Let not the Promised Son remain a stranger;
In reverent worship, make Christ your Adored.
Eternal life is theirs who will receive Him;
With grace and peace, their lives He will adorn.
Fall on your knees! Receive the Gift of heaven!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

verses two and three copyright (c) 2007 Kevin Hartnett.

As you read them, don’t you see how it makes the song so much more Gospelicious?

31 – ways or flavors for praying for your children…

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…found in this helpful post from Bob Hostetler. If you’re like me, you want to pray for your kids. You know that God has to work in them or there really isn’t much hope. You want Him to do His work. You just start rehearsing the same old things. These 31 ways would be a different thing you could emphasize each day of the month. I use Google Calendar to remind me of Psalms of the Day, Scripture memory for the week and could easily incorporate this.

Also, Andrew Case’s book Setting Their Hope in God is helpful for me these days in praying for my children. Whatever you use, though, Pray!

So what about Santa?

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Mark Driscoll gives three options:

‘Tis the season . . . for parents to decide if they will tell the truth about Santa.

When it comes to cultural issues like Santa, Christians have three options: (1) we can reject it, (2) we can receive it, or (3) we can redeem it.

Since Santa is so pervasive in our culture, it is nearly impossible to simply reject Santa as part of our annual cultural landscape. Still, as parents we don’t feel we can simply receive the entire story of Santa because there is a lot of myth built on top of a true story.

Read the rest of the post for info on how the Driscoll’s seek to redeem this.

Knowing Heretics

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There’s nothing new under the sun so says Ecclesiastes. Last night, my Wed PM class, which is working through Lloyd Jones excellent work on 1 John entitled Life in Christ: Studies in 1 John, came face to face with the Doctor’s opinion on this as it relates to the truth of Jesus. He said, in his explanation of 1 John 4:2-3, the following:

There is no modern heresy. All the clever people who propound their apparently new ideas about Christ are simply repeating what has already been said; there have literally been no new heresies since the first centuries. (p.415)

In that regard, then, let me recommend a series over on the Resurgence entitled Know Your Heretics. It is great know these things so that when things come up, we can “test the spirits” and have some measure of discernment against the standard of Christ.