Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! :)
The past few weeks, I have been meditating a lot on Old Testament promises of Christ and this past Sunday, I had the joy of fellowshiping at Parkside Church in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and hearing Alistair Begg preach. He taught on Christ and the Old Testament, and explained how "the Old Testament is a story in search of an ending"
Here it is, the Christ, we celebrate His coming...and I'm so thankful that we can look back at the Old Testament and understand it with greater clarity than it's human authors by seeing it through the lens of Christ. "We can't understand Jesus without the Old Testament, and we can't understand the Old Testament without Jesus."~Alistair Begg He then took a short look back through the Old Testament to a few of the pictures of Christ-in the Exodus, the Kings and the words of the minor prophets. It was a sweet message and he brought it all in center around the gospel. :) Here is the passage he was preaching on-Zechariah's prayer in Luke. And I pray that Zechariah's prayer would be mine and yours and that we would wonder at the beauty of God's promises all fulfilled and embodied in the person and work of Christ!

"And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him
all our days. " Luke 1:67-75

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

Recently, my dear friend EA gave me such a sweet Christmas gift which has been encouraging me so much the past week. It's a book of Advent readings called Come Thou Long Expected Jesus-edited by Nancy Guthrie with readings from people like Calvin, Edwards, Luther, MacArthur, Piper, Keller, Spurgeon, Edwards, JI Packer, and RC Sproul...

It's been wonderfully encouraging-I think the first reading might be my current favourite-it's by George Whitefield-so convicting and challenging to set our minds on Christ! Here's a little bit of it.

"And as, my brethren, the time for keeping this festival is approaching, let us consider our duty in the true observation thereof, of the right way for the glory of God, and the good of immortal souls, to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; an event which ought to be had in eternal remembrance.

What can we do to employ our time to a more noble purpose than reading of what our dear Redeemer has done and suffered; to read that the King of kings and the Lord of lords came from his throne and took upon him the form of the meanest of his servants; and what great things he underwent. This, this is a history worth reading, this is worth employing our time about..." -the whole thing is so wonderful-I encourage all of you to read it all... (this is the whole of the sermon-only part is in the book)

But tonight, I was struck by this beautiful prayer from the Valley Of Vision placed before the start of the book. A wonderful prayer for our hearts at Christmas and always

"O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds,

and enlarge my mind;

Let me hear good tidings of great joy, and hearing,

believe, rejoice, praise, adore,

my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose, my

eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;

place me with ox, ass, camel, goat, to look with

them upon my Reddemer's face, and in him

account myself delivered from sin;

let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my

heart,

embrace him with undying faith,

exulting that he is mine and i am his.

In him thou has given me so much that heaven can

give no more."

God is so incredible...this year, Christmas truths have just been bowling over my heart-knocking me down and making me laugh and cry at the amazing mercy of God in Christ-it is really shocking when we think about it-that the God of the Universe, the King of Kings would take on flesh and come live a perfect, holy life we couldn't and die the death we deserved...that He would come to save sinful people from the wrath they deserved and that God would come in such a lowly, humble way-in a stable with animals all around...no dignitaries, no great kings, no gold throne or crown...but in lowliness he came and those who first saw him were shepherds and wise men from the East...incredible! God's infinite, inscrutable wisdom! His ways are not ours!

Why I'm loving The Institutes

I love Calvin's wonder at God. I never realized this was such a devotional and deeply heart-rending book to read. It is because it flows out of Calvin's own heart for our Savior.

"By piety I mean that union of reverence and love to God which the knowledge of his benefits inspires. For, until men feel that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by his paternal care, and that he is the author of all their blessings, so that naught is to be looked for away from him, they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience; no, unless they place their entire happiness in him, they will never yield their whole selves to him in truth and sincerity."-Chapter 2.2

@dG

Minneapolis is wonderful. My sweet friend Sarah and I have been having a lot of fun. She is quite the trooper, having come here less than two weeks after having knee surgery and wobbling around Minneapolis on crutches! Yesterday we spent the morning/afternoon together. She graciously came with me to buy a new lens (50mm1.8) at a sweet camera exchange shop here. Then we went together to a Somali Restaurant for lunch, called the East Village Grill. I've been there twice before and it was a wonderful. :) here's a few shots of our wonderful meal and time together.

Just a little update from the dG conference.

It's been amazing thus far. Last night, Julius Kim spoke on Calvin the Man, and Why I care. Incredible sermon about the glory and goodness of God in the life of Calvin as a pilgrim and a shepherd and servant of the church and world. Amazing reminders about the sufficiency and clarity of scripture, which are ironically undermined in churches today who rest instead on feeling and reason. He also gave an amazing description of providence as: God's powerful, personal and purposeful care of our lives.

Piper told us the conferece was borne from this quote, of which I didn't catch the source:

"Most people are walking through the theatre of God, blinded to His glory."

I'm praying that this conference would serve to take the blindfolds of for me, and magnify God's glory in my heart and mind through His word and through seeing and being encouraged by Calvin's love for it.

And he began the conference on this quote, which he hopes to end it as well. He wanted to show that this is not ultimately a conference about Calvin, but about the glory of God in Christ and seeing that through his eyes

"In the cross of Christ, as in a magnificent theater, the inestimable goodness of God is displayed before the whole world. In all the creatures, indeed, both high and low, the glory of God shines, but nowhere has it shone more brightly than in the cross, in which there has been an astonishing change of things, the condemnation of all men has been manifested, sin has been blotted out, salvation has been restored to men; and, in short, the whole world has been renewed, and every thing restored to good order.”

–John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel According to John

Give me Jesus, or else I die

I have been reading a book called, Idols of the heart by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Her first chapter discusses the idols of Rachel, not only in her stealing the physical idols from her father, but the idol in her heart for having children, she tells Jacob (as though he can give this to her), "Give me children, or I'll die!". Elyse notes that this is the heart of idolatry. And ironically it was her second child which was the death of her. God is so gracious to show that our idols are useful for nothing but destroying us.
Then, yesterday I heard this song on a new cd my best friend Paige gave me for my birthday from the Red Mountain Church called the Gadsby Project (a retuning of old hymns). It's called Give me Jesus or Else I Die (written by William Hammond). It was encouraging to hear the heart of belief contrasted with the idolatrous heart in such a striking way. I love this song and this reminder of my own neediness for the crucified and risen Savior (above all else).

Give me Jesus Or Else I Die
Gracious Lord, incline thy ear;
My requests vouchsafe to hear;
Hear my never-ceasing cry;
Give me Christ, or else I die.

Wealth and honor I disdain,
Earthly comforts, Lord are vain;
These can never satisfy:
Give me Christ, or else I die.

All unholy and unclean,
I am nothing else but sin;
On thy mercy I rely;
Give me Christ, or else I die.

Thou dost freely save the lost;
In thy grace alone I trust.
With my earnest suit comply;
Give me Christ, or else I die.

Thou dost promise to forgive
All who in thy Son believe;
Lord, I know thou canst not lie;
Give me Christ, or else I die.

A means of grace...

"Let us look upon every brother who tries or vexes us as God's means of grace, God's instrument for our purification -an opportunity for our exercise of the humility Jesus our Life breathes within us. And let us have such faith in the All of God, and the nothing of self, that, as nothing in our own eyes, we may in God's power only seek to serve one another in love."-Andrew Murray Humility

This includes bad drivers, disobedient children, difficult friends, family, people we don't understand...

The whole world turned over and came upright

I went on a poetry spree with a friend last night.

THE CONVERT

G.K. Chesterton

After one moment when I bowed my head
And the whole world turned over and came upright,
And I came out where the old road shone white,
I walked the ways and heard what all men said,
Forests of tongues, like autumn leaves unshed,
Being not unlovable but strange and light;
Old riddles and new creeds, not in despite
But softly, as men smile about the dead.

The sages have a hundred maps to give
That trace their crawling cosmos like a tree,
They rattle reason out through many a sieve
That stores the sand and lets the gold go free:
And all these things are less than dust to me
Because my name is Lazarus and I live.


--G. K. Chesterton