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

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.