It looks like a lot of people from GMC are joining together to read through the whole Bible in one year.  And it is not too late to start.  We are just into week two and those 5 days that already have passed can easily be caught up.  So do not put it off any longer.  Start today!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

The idea that the wise men were prophesied about in the OT (Isaiah 60:6 if you missed it in the sermon) is a fascinating possibility.   And the camels, plus the origin of the possible link to the kings we sing about, put a cherry on top of the cake.  Again, I will not stake my reputation on the connection (if I ever had a reputation to begin with), but it certainly is possible.  If the wise men were from southern Arabia instead of Persia like I had been taught for all my life would make a difference.  The fact that the trees the produce frankincense and myrrh are grown in that area of the world makes it a strong contender.  Although to be fair, we are not told in the Bible were exactly the wise men came from, or if they came on camels.  And the prophecy about kings bowing down could be a prophecy yet to be fulfilled in the future.  The three gifts were commonly traded and gifted in those days (especially among royalty). And the fact that Yemen is more south than east, do pose a bit of a problem.  One point I should make clear is that putting Sheba in southern Arabia instead of Africa, does not take away Jesus significance to all nations and peoples (one commentary I read opposed “changing Sheba from being in Africa” because they liked the idea that Jesus had an African connection).  As I made clear in my sermon, Jesus came to save the whole world, no matter what “connections” he had with other nations.  It is something to consider and think about, hence why I included it in my sermon.  I might not post next week so have a Merry Christmas.

I am currently listening to the cantata “Night of Miracles” as I am typing out this post.  If you have not heard this wonderful cantata, google Night of Miracles and there are several youTube videos that you can watch or listen to.  It would be very worth your while.

Sometimes we look at prophecies  and promises that are yet to be fulfilled with some doubt.  How will God do this?  How do these two thing line up with each other?  Will God fulfill these literally or spiritually or symbolically?  Well we can get an answer to some of these questions by looking at how God has already fulfilled some of his prophecies in the person of Jesus.  And one of the best is to look at the prophecies about Jesus’ birth and his hometown that we looked at Sunday.  Who would have thought that any one of the three prophecies we looked at would have been fulfilled?  None of them made sense when these prophets wrote them down.  Bethlehem not Jerusalem? A foreign country (Egypt) from which Jews were forbidden to enter, let alone come out of?  A land (Galilee) that God had forsaken due to their wickedness and sin and left to the Gentiles?  And how can all three be true all at once.  Yet God fulfilled each of these literally and to the letter and all three came to past just as it was written.  It may seem crazy, but God knows what is going to happen, when and then he tells us about it in his word.  So we should take him at his word, even if that word seems as crazy and weird as the Messiah coming from three unique and crazy places.  Trust him.

Let me be one of the first ones to wish you a Merry Christmas.  This advent season we are going to look at the OT prophecies to Jesus’ birth.  They are just as God-breathed as the stories in the NT.  And looking at the line of Jesus reaching back to Abraham (Adam in Luke’s gospel), shows us that Jesus did not just appear out of no where.  He had parents and grandparents and great-grandparents in a long line to people whose stories and whose lives we read about in the OT.  And because of this we have a rich heritage before us.  Because as Christians, we too are heirs of Abraham.  We are part of God’s family and with it the royal privileges that come with it.  So this week, celebrate being children of the king and reveal in the miracle of his presence with us.

Have a great thanksgiving, being thankful in all things and “giving thanks to God the Father through” Jesus.

This post is posted much later in the week.  But I hope that you have been thinking about Sunday’s sermon about communion.  Remembering all that Jesus did for us on the cross is so important to our life as a Christian.  He is our life, our example, our salvation, our hope, our faith, our everything.  And even though we do not celebrate this meal in our church every Sunday, it is still an important celebration in the life of a Christian.  So let us not forget.  Let us never take it for granted the sacrifice of the lamb of God.

I told you last Sunday that I am going to have our whole church participate in a through the Bible reading this next year starting in January.  There are many options out there and I personally have read through the whole Bible in one year multiple times and every time I find new things.  I found three great options that have both positive and negative traits.  I finally have decided which is the best for our church at this time.  The one I chose has 5 groups of readings every week.  I like this because I know from personal experience that it is harder to find time on the weekend to do Bible reading than throughout the week.  Plus this gives you the option of choosing which days of the week you do your reading.  And if you miss a day or forget or are too busy on any particular day, you do not have to worry about falling behind.  You have seven days to do five readings.  This means that the readings may be a bit longer than a typical 7 day/week reading plan, but I think the benefits out weigh the vises.  This reading also has Old Testament and New Testament mixed together so it is easier to keep up with the readings especially in some of the “dryer” passages in the OT.  I also like this plan because it comes with a companion guide that gives just a brief insight into each chapter of the Bible.  This will help clear up any confusion a passage may have and give us a starting point for discussion in this post.  And finally, I like this plan because you do not have to buy a special Bible or translation.  You can use any Bible or translation you already have, you can take and use the Bibles in our church pews, or you can do it on your phone with any Bible app you may have.  So I hope this will appeal to most people and allow us to read through the Bible together.