Head-dibs

“It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son,” quoth Spurgeon’s December 25th’s Morning and Evening. “When did angels indulge in midnight songs, or did God ever hang a new star in the sky before? To whose cradle did rich and poor make so willing a pilgrimage and offer such hearty and unsought obligations?” Obviously, such things never happened before in history, nor have since. The golden name, Immanuel, is inexpressibly delightful. God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave . . .” I could not help but wonder what this Christmas would be like for us and am astounded at how my wonder was met by the unexpected providence of God during this time of celebration. God has been truly with us, but I did not expect to find it in the death of a family member. The keen ear of Spurgeon to the mouth of God heard the words of comfort and joy found in Immanuel, and we were directed to find these...

Memorial services for Andrew J. Scoopmire, 23, of Gallup, New Mexico will be held on Saturday-December 30, 2006-10:00 AM at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Gallup. Rev. Gary Bickner will officiate. Mr. Scoopmire was born on December 30, 1982 in Gallup, New Mexico and died on December 24, 2006 in Gallup, New Mexico. He was a 2001 Graduate of Gallup High School. He is survived by his wife: Laura Scoopmire of Gallup, New Mexico; Daughter: Joana Scoopmire of Gallup, New Mexico; Parents: John and Andrea Scoopmire of Gallup, New Mexico; Sisters: Amy Kluck of Minn., Leslie Wilson of South Carolina and Valerie Tsosie of Gallup, New Mexico. Please pray for my wife as she is in New Mexico with her family. And please pray for her family as many need to know Christ.

I'm glad I am a Christian because I have a stable background . . . Merry Christmas!

A Christian and a Pagan were carrying on a debate when both got their wits' end and felt that neither was going to get the upper hand in trying to convince the other of his position. The Pagan blurted out, "I once had a dream that I was drowning in the ocean and the goddess came walking along and told me to swim. I realized I had to move my arms and kick my feet in a different way and learned how to hold my breath until I could get to where my feet touched the bottom and I walked out." The Christian calmly replied, "I had a dream like that too, that I was drowning in the ocean. Jesus came walking along the beach, saw me drowning and jumped in and saved me." Merry Christmas! " you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins .” (Matthew 1:21)

In 1723, 20 year-old Jonathan Edwards wrote the following paragraph in the leaf of one of his student books: “They say there is a young lady in New Haven who is beloved of that Great Being who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which the Great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for any thing, except to meditate on him—that she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from him always. There she is to dwell with him, and to be ravished with his love and delight for ever. Therefore, if you present all the world before her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it and care not for it, and us unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her mind, a singular purity in her affections; is most just...

Psalm 125:1, “Those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.” [i] One need not be a scholar of the Psalms to know how often the writers describe the strength and security he finds in the LORD God being illustrated in those pictures of mountains, rocks, even bulwarks and fortresses. Here is a peculiar occasion where the writer describes not the LORD as the Mount; rather, he likens the one who trusts in the LORD as Mount Zion, specifically. Like skipping a stone on the surface of still water, we are apt to skip over these first few verses before delving into principles and applications that lead us toward Godliness. Let us instead pause to reflect on that surface and consider first what is meant by “trust” and how that understanding helps us know how this makes one like Mount Zion. Trust is related to belief; that is, who (or what) is the object or authority and who is in subjection to that person or thing? Trust is another way of describing depe...

”First, let a man so hunger and thirst after righteousness, that he'd be willing to almost fast and pray himself to death, as Whitefield did. Then, let a man be willing to be thought of as a fool by his own household, and a legalist by his own peers, as Whitefield was. Then, let a man be willing to preach the true gospel, so clear and so forcefully, that the religious world will not be able to tolerate him, but will force him to preach in the streets instead of the Churches, as Whitefield was. Then, let a man be willing to endure spittings, stonings, beatings, and mobs, all with the love of Christ burning in his heart, as Whitefield did. Then, if a man is willing to preach 40 hours a week, until he often vomits blood, being up early praying, and up late traveling, ONLY THEN, will we have another Whitefield.” The Old Paths Newsletter , Dec. 2006.

“ But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed .” Is 53:5 The morning reading of March 31 concludes with Spurgeon planting a seed for the day, “We would fain go to our chambers and weep; but since our business calls us away, we will first pray our Beloved to print the image of his bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all the day, and at nightfall we will return to commune with him, and sorrow that our sin should have cost him so dear.” Let us here begin where Spurgeon ends. See, from His Head, His Hands, His Feet Sorrow and Love flow, mingled, down. Overhearing a conversation between two men recently stirred up within me a level of great consternation. Certainly the conversation centered around Christmas, and I was within earshot to hear one confute the practice of some who observe the Lord’s Supper during Christmas services. He was upset with the s...

Psalm 112 Have you ever wondered, “ What do I get by being a Christian ?” Short answer: God. Long answer: The Christian does not get a “what” but a “whom.” The person who puts God before his eyes, who reverences God in the highest way receives from God blessing and delight to do what pleases God. The righteous person makes a mark on those around him (this will be clear later) and those that follow this same uprightness receives blessing as well. The righteous accumulates about him things of eternal significance. Things that matter to God matter most. Also, he sees clearly in the light of fellowship by walking with God, being cleansed from sin and made righteous by God’s provision. Furthermore, there are is tangible evidence of that walk that is distinctly different and certainly noticed. The one who fears God gets to show grace and compassion by sharing what God provides. The one who fears God gets a solid foot-hold on an unmovable foundation. When he gets bad news, he gets to t...

Psalm 34 1. God is the focus of praise (1-3). I am firmly convinced that this very psalm was the content of David’s mutterings of madness. Remember the occasion when Br’er Rabbit (or Bro’ Rabbit) was once again in the clutches of Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear, who sought to pull out his ears and yank of his tail, to enjoy him for their dinner? One his Rabbit’s plans to escape including his convincing his captors to PLEASE eat him, and never to throw him into that most horrid and dreadful place, the briar patch. He begged and pleaded to be eaten—anything, just PLEASE don’t throw him into that briar patch. Fox and Bear thought the torture would be better if they did throw him into the briar patch instead of eating him and when Rabbit found out, he set to hollerin’ so. Finally, the Rabbit was launched through the air and plompt right smack into that ol’ briar patch, where instead of screaming and yelps of death, Bro’s Fox and Bear heard laughter. They quickly learnt that that ol’ briar patch w...

Let Hedonism be your guide. Try anything once and do the fun things twice—just don’t hurt anyone in the process; Stand up for your rights. Nobody has the right to tell you what to do—and be loud about it. Stay away from intolerant people; Follow your heart, your feelings. Soothe the conscience by referring to Step 1; Discover your hidden potential; Truth is what you make it, so do what seems right to you. Believe in yourself; Whatever you desire, go for it. Let nothing get in your way. Give yourself permission to get whatever you want even though people are not going to simply give it to you. The world is there for the taking—after all, you deserve it. The sooner you get it, the better. (" Send me $95 and I’ll show you how!") “Quarrels are a part of life. We grow up understanding them, we are competitive, we are even taught to be competitive. Little children fight. The kids fight over the toys, they go to school and they fight over the games in the playground, th...

This last week our church finished our annual Christmas pageantry, 5 performances in all. The first half is modern, upbeat and flashy. The set was a radio station, WLUV, playing the "Christmas hits" and asking what "listeners" loved about Christmas. An emphasis was placed on the hubbub and frustration that many associate with Christmas time--not really what people are looking for. The second half becomes an abbreviated "Passion", telling the life of Christ. The stage undergoes transformation into ancient times and the choir re-enter wearing traditional "Bible garb." After the crucifixion and resurrection, while the lights are still low, each choir member slowly rises to his or her feet and drop the head-wrappings and accoutrements and the entire stage is bathed in bright white, signifying the glorious transformation of the saints just under the feet of the resurrected and glorified Christ. I've spent some time reflecting on Revelation ...

“ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body .“ [i] Walking through a pet store the other night, something unusual caught my eye and I had to look twice to make certain of what I was seeing. Now, I don’t get out much and this may be old news to you, but this was . . . different. Think: Hermit Crabs, those little guys with the crabby fronts and soft behinds that move into the shells of other sea creatures. As they grow, they simply find larger shells to back in to. Got it? Somebody got the great idea of “designer shells” for these puppies, er, crabs. That’s right! Little plastic shells with designer paint-jobs. Hermies’ home is not a typical sea-shell anymore. He can now have a little pink house with a white picket fence painted along the sides. Or a jet black shell with flames or racing stripes. Or a Hawaii...

“ Let them that love Him be like the sun when he goes forth in his might .” Judges 5:31 My prayer for this next year is that God would focus me. Right now I am too much a like a flashlight: a beam of variable brightness, sort of spread out, making some miniscule contribution to the sight of those who desire to see (self included). I would rather be a laser-beam. Focused. Intent. Piercing. To do this, I am asking God to focus me. Before the technology, I suppose this was the same sort of thing on Nellie Talbot’s heart when she wrote that great Sunday School Song: I will ask Jesus to help me To keep my heart from sin, Ever reflecting His goodness, And always shine for Him. A sunbeam, a sunbeam, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam; A sunbeam, a sunbeam, I’ll be a sunbeam for Him. Steven Sample’s book “The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership” contains a chapter called “You are what you read,” wherein he discusses the lasting influences of the “supertext.” Supertexts are important for both what they ...

Thanks, Derek. You've been Baptist all along.

Genesis 9:13: “ I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth .” Today’s reading of Oswald Chambers includes the importance of right standing with God, which begins with participation with God in His covenant. Further, right standing with God continues as we let God carry out His covenant on His terms, in His timing. Chambers is careful to dissect out idolatrous thoughts in that we tend to wait on God to do something that we may say we have trusted God in that thing. We are wrong to suppose we are in right standing placing our trust in His action when His person, God Himself is the center of our right standing. I was made to notice that God set the sign of His act and being in the vessel used to carry out punishment; in other words, placed within the clouds that consist of water through which the world was destroyed because of man’s sin, God placed a visible statement of His promise never to flood the earth with water again....

“ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you . . . (v.14-16a)” Who do you pray for? I keep asking myself this question and am stunned every time with my own answer. Try it. Ask yourself: who do you pray for? Do you pray for yourself? For others? What about God? Do you pray for God? Ephesians 3:14-21 catches Paul in the middle of a thought, having already described the unity of believers in Christ Jesus and now because of that unity Paul reveals his prayer. At first glance it seems that Paul is praying for his readers. Looking again to his prayer we hear Paul praying for God, “ that He would grant you. . . ” Paul is praying for God to act on behalf of his audience. Inter-Varsity’s Charles Troutman is noted as saying: “The criterion for our intercessory prayer is not our earnestness, nor our faithfulness, nor even our faith in God, but simply God Himself. He has taken the initiati...

( Thank you for sending this, Derek. For: our Rick Warren Fans ) 1. Q: What is the chief end of each individual Christian? A: Each individual Christian's chief end is to get saved. This is the first and great commandment. 2. Q: And what is the second great commandment? A: The second, which is like unto it, is to get as many others saved as he can. 3. Q: What one work is required of thee for thy salvation? A: It is required of me for my salvation that I make a Decision for Christ, which meaneth to accept Him into my heart to be my personal lord'n'saviour 4. Q: At what time must thou perform this work? A: I must perform this work at such time as I have reached the Age of Accountability. 5. Q: At what time wilt thou have reached this Age? A: That is a trick question. In order to determine this time, my mind must needs be sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce even to the division of bone and marrow; for, alas, the Age of Accountability is different for each individua...