NewsFlash!!! Christmas is over

And over it is, now, in our church. We complete our Christmas series a couple of Sunday’s late. It is fitting in a way as it is our last day with our boys as they head back to school tomorrow. We will enter another season of mourning without our lads in our household.

Nevertheless, we had a good day in the Lord’s house today and a great four weeks with the boys home.

I Am the Bright and Morning Star (Rev 22.16)

Our Christmas season is over as we look to the promise of the one who authenticates the Scriptures as true and reveals himself to be the bright hope of Scripture promise as the light of the bright and morning star.

Pilgrim’s Progress: Mercy goes with Christiana

The next look at the Pilgrim’s Progress finds Mercy and Christiana admitted into the way of salvation at the Wicket Gate. They learn a valuable lesson on prayer as they set out on their journey from that place.

Endurance in Trials (Jas 1.1-8, 12) · Rory Johnson

My son Rory, on his last day home for Christmas vacation gives us a good message from James on enduring trials and enduring faith. He closed with a clear call to the lost to join in the walk of faith that wholly depends on Christ alone for salvation.

We are behind the times in giving you our sermon summaries. This Christmas, we have been totally discombobulated by our weather. We still have close to a foot of snow lying around in our yard, though the roads are now clear… with spots of black ice in the mornings. We just don’t get weather like this here… usually.

I am also trying to install a new sermon publication plugin for our church site. It looks quite exciting, but we have something set wrong so it isn’t working yet. I spent a lot of time last week trying to get it working and didn’t publish last week’s summaries here as a result.

You can find the last two weeks of messages at these links:

12/28/08

• A star shall come forth from Jacob (Num 24.15-19)
• A Brief Survey of the First Moravian Mission
• True Satisfaction (Jer 17.1-10) Duncan Johnson

1/4/09

• We saw His Star in the East (Mt 2.1-12)
• Pilgrim’s Progress: Christiana Follows Christian
• True Forgiveness (Mt 18.21-35) Rory Johnson

We are continuing our Christmas series in the AM messages, inspired by the Moravian star. The 12/28 message has to do with Balaam’s prophecy of the star in Jacob. Today we look at the wise men, very likely knowledgeable of Balaam, his prophecy, and some of the other OT prophecies. Their lives were changed by seeking Christ.

The Moravian mission story was a prequel, leading up to our showing of First Fruits, a docu-drama of the first Moravian mission and the beginning of Protestant missions. It is a remarkable story. Today, we return to our study of Pilgrim’s Progress.

The afternoons were messages from my sons, first on the theme of finding complete satisfaction in Christ by Number One Son, Dunky-boy, and then this week on three truths revealed concerning forgiveness in Mt 18 by Number Two Son, Rory-O.

We are snowed out again. The main roads were clear, but our church is on an unplowed side street and our parking lot is buried. We have about a foot of snow. The mountain to the west (over which half our congregation drives) is a skating rink.

As an alternative, we held a small service in our home this afternoon with a few who were able to make it over. We recorded it (with an inferior microphone) but we offer it here so our folks can have a ‘virtual service’. Our daughter-in-law accompanies us on the violin, with a special of What Child is This as well.

Reactions to Christmas (Lk 2.15-20)

Our message is a brief meditation on the Christmas story and the five reactions we see to the announcement in this passage. We hope it is a blessing to you.