“A Prayer For Christmas”

A Daily Prayer

Father, the angels’ announcement to the shepherds is the same announcement heralded in the hearts of men and women, boys and girls who choose to accept Christ as their Lord, “A Savior has been born to you.” We set Him apart in our hearts from the common, ordinary things of life, for He is the Master of not only the universe, but He chooses to reign in our lives. We’re so grateful for His completed mission on earth where He was rocked in a holy cradle, ridiculed on a hostile cross and restored through His Heavenly coronation. “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!” dwell in our hearts we pray.  Amen.

For this message, photos, links to music and other resources see our website.

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Special Year-end Financial Appeal: We want to thank all who have financially supported our ministry this past year. We realize there…

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God’s Indescribable Gift

A disciple's study

by John Piper

If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:10–11)

How do we practically receive reconciliation and exult in God? One answer is do it through Jesus Christ. Which means, at least in part, make the portrait of Jesus in the Bible — the work and the words of Jesus portrayed in the New Testament — the essential content of your exultation over God. Exultation without the content of Christ does not honor Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4–6, Paul describes conversion two ways. In verse 4, he says it is seeing “the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And…

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Will You Receive the Promised Gift?

Walking Together in God's Promises

In the beginning, God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden. They enjoyed the intimate presence of God until one day, they chose to eat the fruit of one forbidden tree. After they ate the fruit, they heard God walking in the Garden and calling them. They hid from God’s presence. They were ashamed of their nakedness.

I’ve been ashamed … words I wish I could take back, thoughts I shouldn’t have entertained, actions I took that hurt others. I’ve wanted to withdraw and hide.

Yet, God did not want Adam and Eve to hide from Him. He caused them to confess what they did. Then He explained the consequences of their actions: cursed ground, hard labor, pain in childbirth, discord between themselves, dismissal from the Garden of Eden, eventual death, and separation from the presence of God.

But God was gracious. God covered…

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What We Celebrate at Christmas

Truth2Freedom's Blog

In this excerpt from What Did Jesus Do?, R.C. Sproul reminds us that what we really celebrate at Christmas is the incarnation of God Himself.

Transcript

What we celebrate at Christmas is not so much the birth of a baby, as important as that is, but what’s so significant about the birth of that particular baby is that in this birth we have the incarnation of God Himself. An incarnation means a coming in the flesh. We know how John begins His gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So in that very complicated introductory statement, he distinguishes between the Word and God, and then in the next breath identifies the two, “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And then at the end of the prologue, he says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt…

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10 Things You Should Know about the Incarnation

Truth2Freedom's Blog

This is a guest post by Stephen J. Wellum, author of God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ.

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1. The person or active subject of the incarnation is the eternal Son.

John 1:14 is clear: “The Word became flesh.” In other words, it was the Son from eternity who became incarnate, not the divine nature. The Son, who is in eternal relation to the Father and Spirit, willingly humbled himself and chose to assume a human nature in obedience to his Father and for our salvation (Phil. 2:6-8).

2. As the eternal Son, the second person of the triune Godhead, he is the full image and expression of the Father and is thus fully God.

Along with the Father and Spirit, the Son fully and equally shares the divine nature. As the image and exact correspondence of the Father (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3), the Son is fully…

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Grace Notes

Three Iron Nails

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“A Prayer For Great Joy!”

A Daily Prayer

Father, the story is so familiar to many of us since we heard it from the time we were old enough to be still and listen. Many of us participated in yearly church pageants where we dressed as an angel, a shepherd, a wiseman or maybe even Mary or Joseph. We memorized our parts from Matthew and Luke and can quote those Scriptures even today. It was exciting every Christmas to participate in the story of our Savior’s birth. Because of familiarity we can lose the wonder, the mystery, and the excitement of Christ coming to earth. Would You fill our hearts afresh with great joy as we reflect upon our Lord Jesus coming to earth to show His love to us and to teach us Your timeless truths. Our Saviour cared for the unlovable. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and drove out demons. He died for our…

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