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A Mysterious Bustling About

A child’s Christmas is often witness to a parent’s wonderful and mysterious bustling about. As the big day draws nearer and nearer, Mom and Dad become special agents involved in any number of top-secret, undercover, covert operations. All the whispering, the dashing, the late-night stashing and stowing – it’s all so deliciously exciting. What treasures that bedroom closet must keep! What joys will come from their glorious conspiracy! What wonderful new world will be discovered downstairs on Christmas Day!

A Christian’s Christmas is often enjoyed in much the same way. For who’s a better gift-giver than God? And who can best the Holy Spirit in the art of mysterious bustling about? No one, of course! The Lord who fixed a peculiar star in the Middle Eastern sky, who sent angels to surprise the lowly with blessings unbelievable, whose most royal of philharmonics filled the Bethlehem sky and performed a chorus of glad tidings; is the same Lord who today ensures that this Christmas season is just as pregnant for you and me as the first. Your Christmas should be filled with expectation as God continues to grant all the riches of reconciliation and revolution. What treasures your prayer closet must keep! What joys will come from this divine conspiracy! What wonderful new world will be discovered in the depths of our hearts on Christmas Day!

-Pastor John

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Is There Any Analog in Your Ambiance?

December 17, 2017

John 1:14

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

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Booking Passage To The End Of The Line

December 10, 2017

Isaiah 7:10-16

Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

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The Red-blooded Redeemed

November 26, 2017

Ecclesiastes 11:7-10

7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.

9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

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Thanksgiving and the Art of Improvisation

November 19, 2017

Psalm 33:1-3

Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
    Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
    make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

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