Volume 1 | Issue 29 – December 17, 2015

Pastor Steve shares these links to stimulate some Thursday Thoughts…

Some Christmas-focused considerations – from some very familiar sources…

Be a Yoda, Not a Grinch – – Marshall Segal over at Desiring God grabs the Star Wars phenom and presses some important thoughts into our minds. He writes: “Instead, inspired by the proximity to Christmas, I’m putting a light saber into the hands of the greedy Grinch and pitting him against the Star Wars hero of blockbuster past. In the end, the two may only have a green complexion in common, but comparing them really can be an exercise in treasuring the coming of Christ, and in living and serving more like him.” You can read the rest HERE.

Hope for the Hurting This Christmas – – Take the time to watch this twelve-minute video of John Piper reading his “classic” poem, The Innkeeper. John writes: “Have you ever wondered what became of the innkeeper in Bethlehem who let Mary and Joseph have their baby in his barn? Did he have little children? When the soldiers came from Herod, did they hunt for the birth place of the dangerous baby and start the slaughter there? What did it cost the innkeeper to house the Messiah in his first hours? In the poem called The Innkeeper, I tried to imagine what might have happened when the soldiers came. And what Jesus might have said if he showed up 30 years later to talk to the innkeeper about it. It’s fiction. But its aim is truth and hope and joy.” You can read the rest – and watch the video HERE.

The Child of Prophecy – – It is truly incredible to realize all of the prophetic foretelling of the coming of Christ that is presented in the Old Testament. At the Grace To You blog – John MacArthur writes: “The Christmas story in the Bible begins several hundred years before that night in Bethlehem. One Old Testament prophecy after another promised a coming Savior—the Messiah, the Anointed One—who would redeem the people of God.” You can read the rest HERE.