AWWR #7

Read: Luke 1:5-12

Sing: He Who is Mighty

We are going to camp here for a few days. It is amazing, it hasn't been that many months ago that I started studying and reading for Luke, and I have already forgotten some of the beautiful truths dug out of this portion of scripture. Christmas is a time that can become so rushed and frantic and distracted. I am desiring that we can linger and long for the Word and the truths of Jesus as we study through.

This passage really struck me for a number of reasons but today I would like to talk about the faithfulness of God's people. We have presented Zachariah and Elizabeth. Scripture records them as "walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord." Pause. I am fairly confident that an opening sentence on my character would not read this way. It would be a lie. And this being the Word of God we know he cannot even smudge the truth. Zachariah and Elizabeth loved the Lord. They were faithful.

Not only were the faithful but they were faithful in affliction and faithful in silence. Today, lets explore the later. 

As Zachariah went to perform his priestly duties, he was going to serve the Lord. When the angel appears to him, this is the first word from God since the time of Malachi. 400 years. 400 years of quiet. Yet in that quietness, we stumble upon the story of not just one but several individuals who served Yahweh and were "righteous before God." This would mean, their faith was not for show, not for the sake of job, or because of their lineage, to be found righteous and walking blamelessly would mean that had to believe that God is who He says He is. 

I am not sure I would have that type of faith. Its hard to wait a day for the Lord to answer a prayer, let alone a year...let alone 400. These people did not have bibles or apps or even the church structure we are blessed with today. But, what they did have was more than enough. They had the portion of scripture from the Old Testament and they had the means of the historical preservation of their own history and seeing that God is a promise keeping God. 

But, 400 years! The Israelites couldn't keep it together for 40 days the first time Moses goes up the mountain to speak to God. They were begging Aaron for an idol this side of a month, and Aaron who had witnessed the miracles of God's rescue, brought a calf before the people. Now we can flash forward to a precious barren couple, a priest being faithful to his duties with hope unseen; and a barren wife faithfully serving besides her husband, trusting in the promises of God.

Barrenness in biblical times was seen as a curse. Typically it would have been seen as a punishment for sin, but we are told in Elizabeth's case she was barren simply because God willed it. She was barren because that is how the Lord intended her to live all of those years. In her barrenness, in her ache of an empty womb, we know she still lived well. How? Because it says in God's word, they were righteous before God, they walked in his statues. Elizabeth's condition did not control her worship, Elizabeth's situation did not write her "spiritual abilities." Even in her longing, she was found faithful.

In the Psalms we see it written over and over again about the precepts of the Lord (19&119) examining 19:8-9 in light of what we have learned about Zachariah and Elizabeth are overwhelming. "the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous all together." Their lives reflected that they believed the Word of God.

Friend, this Christmas, in the rush and the distraction, may we draw closer to Him. May we trust that what He says is true. Despite any affliction or trials or silence we might be experiencing, may we ask God to teach us to be faithful to keep His commandments and walk with hearts full of joy.

AWWR#6

 Read: Luke 1:1-4

Sing: He Who Is Mighty

Some days, I cannot help but feel myself choke up as I work though this narrative. (Okay, who am I kidding...most days). This morning though, indeed I had to keep pausing. This might be puzzling as we are only working through the greeting of a letter from one man to another, but I could not help but thinking through the fact the Lord saw fit that through Luke to Theophilus, we too would receive an orderly account of the life of Christ. The Reformation Study Bible denotes it like this, "Luke addresses Theophilus and explains his purpose for writing to offer a well-researched and orderly presentation of the events that have launches the Christian movement, as a foundation for confident assurance in the truth of the Gospel."

How blessed are we to be partakers of this glorious truth. How much do we not even think of the kindness that the Lord has given us in having the entirety of the written word at our finger tips? I know we briefly touched on this concept last week, but I keep going back to it, as in a day in age where we have almost unlimited access to a global database of knowledge (and filth) at our finger tips through our phones and tablets...do we lose sight that we have complete and total access to the Word of God at all times. Pushing it further, because we live on this side of the resurrection we have complete access to the throne of God through His Son Jesus Christ, who was born and died to take away all our guilt and shame. We are now heirs of righteousness. Do we live in this truth? Do we delight in the Word each day as it being of our eternal value? 

J.C. Ryle states, "let Christ be the sun of our system and the main desire of our souls be to live the life of faith in Him, and daily know Him better." What better time than advent to restore our joy and love of Christ. To marvel at the most remarkable of miracles that the Creator and Sustainer of all things would come into the world in flesh Himself, as the King Incarnate, to die for our sins.

Jesus Christ, the exact imprint of the nature of God, would be held by a teenager's hands. Would walk the roads He created, would sleep under the stars that he both set and named. Don't let this escape you! He who is mighty...has done this great thing. God with Us. Emmanuel.

AWWR#5

Read: Luke 1-2:40 emphasis on verse 1

Sing: Prepare Him Room

As we prepare to jump into the heart of the context next week I wanted to focus on verse 1 today and leave us with something to meditate on this weekend. Luke wrote for a very specific reason. A beautiful reason and one that as believers we should hold tightly too, and consider each time we go to our own Bibles. J.C. Ryle writes, " Luke gives us a short , but valuable sketch of the nature of the gospel. He calls it, 'A declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us.' It is a narrative of facts about Jesus Christ."

Ryle goes on to write, " Christianity is a religion built upon facts. Let us never lose sight of this. It came before mankind at first in this shape. The first preachers did not go up and down the world, proclaiming an elaborate, artificial system of abstruse doctrines and deep principles. They made it their business to tell men great plain facts. They went about telling a sin- laden world, that the Son of God had come down to earth, lived for us, died for us, and risen again. The Gospel, at its first publication, was far more simple than many make it now. It was neither more nor less that the history of Christ."

Woah. I read this paragraph several times the past few months as I studied this portion of Scripture. I looked around me to our church at present and needed to take time to grieve over the mess, over the emotional, therapeutic, deism that we have mucked the history of Jesus into. Then I realized, we can do something about this. You, me...every lady reading this and every woman willing to listen to you share this. We can be students of the Word. We can know the facts of the Gospel through the revealed Word of Christ inside and out. AND then, be able to share it articulately with others around us. 

Often we start the good news of Jesus with ourselves. We try to break ground with people by telling them what Jesus has done for us. He instantly becomes a bonus buddy, not the Savior of the World. We lose sight of the fact that we were dead in our sins and trespasses...dead. There was nothing that we could do. Dead men can't help themselves, but Jesus Christ came, bore our sins on the cross, and now clothes us in His righteousness. My husband has used this analogy often while teaching at events and conferences...we lead too much with the answer. We go up to people and say the answer is Jesus! We don't lay out the problem we just offer a solution to something they are not looking for. Or we make it super ambiguous- Ab+DR*3q=Christ.We make the problem obsolete and offer a confusing solution. We must know the Gospel in its entirety and in its clarity. We have a great problem Sin=death. That must be made evident. But we have a greater Savior. Christ=salvation. He came, paid the debt we could not, to a problem we would never solve, and he gave it freely.

Friend, may we be able, as Luke himself, share with all the Theophilus in our lives an orderly account of the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Read: Luke 1-2:41

Sing: Prepare Him Room

Always winter but never Christmas. C.S. Lewis sets out in his book to describe the state of Narnia. A place where there was always longing but never hope. As I thought on how it would have been to live in the time of silence, the 400 years where the prayers of the people " Come Lord," were answered with quietness, this quote came to mind.

The people waited. They longed for the coming of a rescue plan. They awaited Salvation. They waited for a King. Some, waited faithfully. We hear of their accounts from the gospels. Faithful servants, priests and wives, young men and old men alike. They awaited.

Its hard to wait 25 days for Christmas and we know (Lord willing) it is coming! We know what day, it is written on our calendar. The whole world knows the 25th is Christmas day. Yet, so many times as a believer, we find ourselves living without hope, as if in Narnia where it is always winter and never Christmas; as if we too,have been sitting in 400 years of silence. We live without the glorious truth of the birth, death and resurrection of the Savior and without the hope that He is coming again. We have the Word! The written account from men inspired by God, to ensure that we knew the history of Christ. 

Today, lets challenge ourselves and examine our hearts. What do our hearts look like this Advent? Not, what do we wish they look like, not where we hope to get too, but today...right now, where are we? Are we laying in wait as if the King has not yet come? Do we bear the same gloom of a perishing world in spite of the proclamations of the promises of God? Are we heralds?! Have we heard the Gospel news and now beam with such gladness that we are telling everyone... CHRISTMAS HAS COME!!!!! 

Can we "Advent," well?! Can our preparations turn our hearts to Him, can they be good tidings of great joy for all people? Can we find moments to spread the love of Jesus and an 'otherworldly' kindness to others...even if its just a smile and thank you to people at check outs? Can we pray over family gatherings and Christmas parties and holiday get togethers...that we could use this season to the glory of God? My prayer, is that we can be glimmers of joy that comes from a confidence in Christ this Christmas.

A Weary World Rejoices #3

 It is easy to have our eyes glaze over as we read a story that we have heard over and over again. It is easy to allow the Biblical narrative of the incarnation of Jesus to fall as flat as a Sunday School felt board manger scene on our hearts. It becomes ordinary. It becomes...dare I say...boring to us. " We have heard it before." 

If you find yourself in this camp this Christmas, may I challenge you to see the story anew. May we start with our posture and the understanding that every time we read scripture we are reading the living breathing Word of God? That every time we get to hear this and read this, we are  among the privileged people who have access to the Bible, who have had access to education that we may read, have access to finances that we can own not just a bible but usually multiple variations!

As we read through Luke 1-2:40 again today let us pause and consider ourselves blessed. Just as Luke writes to Theophilus, how good it is for us too as Gentiles alike to be given the good news of Jesus Christ!

Luke addresses Theophilus is a very specific manner. "Excellent Theophilus." This title is typically given to Roman officials. We see the same term used by Paul in Acts 24:3 and 26:25 for Felix and Festus. Theophilus "represents a Gentile class being systematically taught the Christian message"(RSB pg1521).

Incredible. God's word and promises for all people, of every nation tribe and tongue. We get to be partakers of this. 

A last thought this day...1 John 2 reminds us, "Do not love the world or the things of this world...For all that is in the world-the desires of the the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." Christmas, especially in our modern Western context seems to literally emphasize and sell these three things. Suddenly we are super concerned with appearance, possession and material things. It is perfectly off focus of Christ and on focus to nothing of eternal value. 

I am not saying Christmas and its traditions are inherently wrong, we love driving around looking at lights, watching Christmas movies and eating Christmas goodies, what I am suggesting- is that we each examine our hearts as we press forward. Are there areas that would be clustered into these 3 regions of warnings that we need to remove and repent of? Are there areas of idolatry or sin that we must steer clear of? And more so, are there areas that we can love Christ more, spend time in His Word more and exemplify him more?! The Gospel Coalition has put out some excellent articles lately that go more in depth into this if you are interested in diving more into this topic. 

My prayer is that we are ready to 'systematically be taught the Christian message,' and rejoice in its truths yet again. After all, the grass withers and the flowers fade but the Word of the Lord remains forever. <3

Prepare Him Room

A Weary World Rejoices #2

Have you noticed how many people decorated early this year for Christmas? I mean, between social media and driving through our neighborhood it seemed as if trees were up sooner and lights were one houses brighter this year. Even our kids noticed. I have been thinking on this quite a bit and my thought is...these have been a pretty rough few years globally and regionally. From illness and lockdowns to loss of life and loss of sanity it seems as if we are just weary. In an increasingly secular world, people are having a longing for something, anything in the darkness of despair. In comes...Christmas lights! They make people happy. The twinkle of lights, the beautiful decor...something about the beauty of light shining out in darkness.

Sound familiar? Those who are in Christ, those who are familiar with scripture, our hearts might quickly jump at this connection...those who once walked in darkness have seen a great light. 1 John 1 tells is it is their joy to write " that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

Which brings us to today's portion of scripture. We will again read Luke 1-2:40 to gain an overall with where we are going. But, lets consider the historical context of Luke specifically.

Luke was written sometime in the 60 a.d. period. Luke was a physician and gentile who was not one of the 12 disciples. He did however travel with Paul on some of his missionary journeys. Luke sets out to write " an orderly account," for a person by the name of Theophilus so that he too might have certainty in the message of Christ. (more on him tomorrow)

J.C. Ryle writes in his commentary on Luke, that he feels he must keep his book short and readable because "we live in a hurrying age." Ha! Imagine what he would think of society now. Not only do we live in a hurrying age but we like in a don't know, don't care age. May we challenge ourselves to pause as we work through Luke this Advent, that we would long to know with certainty the things of Christ, and that we can bask in the methodical and systematic way in which Luke has broken down the order of the events of Christ.

Luke contains many things not found in the other three Gospels. The histories of Zacharias and Elisabeth, the angel's announcement to the virgin Mary and a lot of the content from chapters 1 and 2 to name a few. 

J.C. Ryle sums it up, this is a "sketch of the nature of the Gospel- he (Luke) calls it a 'declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,' it is a narrative of facts about Jesus Christ." "The Gospel is neither more or less that the history of Christ."

This season, pray to know Christ with certainty. Pray for chances to share the history of Jesus birth with others. With so many longing for light this winter season, I pray ours is not kept under a bushel but set up high for all to see.

Prepare Him Room

Day 1: Luke 1-2:40

 Good morning! Here we are on Day 1 of our Advent Study. I am so excited. Today will be a general overview and layout of where we will all be going! 

This year we are studying Luke 1-2:40. It may seem like a shorter passage as in years past we have done huge chunks of the Bible or entire books. BUT, it will take us the entirety of the study to work through this. It is such a rich passage and I have been busting at the seams, since diving in months ago, to share the glorious truths of Christ and His coming with you all!

As always, this will be (mostly) methodical and done in an expository manner going verse by verse. We will have a Christmas worship song every few days to help prepare our hearts for the study and keep us meditating on it throughout the day. My favorite part of the Advent study is how it helps "right the ship," for me during a season that can get overwhelming and chaotic. It makes it a little harder to be stressed over Christmas cookies after spending a morning immersed in the mystery of the incarnation. 

It is hard to keep Christ at the center of the celebration, lets face it, it's hard to keep Christ at the center most days in general. But, as we pause and read, and see God's promise fulfilled we can once again renew our hope, for what He promised He has done. We also live in a society with loose theology, where Christmas and the message can be distorted or added too, let us heed Peter's warning "There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do other scriptures." The Incarnation of Christ, the Virgin birth, these can lead some to rabbit holes of conspiracy theories and myths, may we not be women who are easily deceived but rooted and grounded in the Word of God.

So for today and the next few days to follow we will start with a sweeping overview of what we are about to dive into. Please read with me Luke 1-2:40. I often will read it, listen to it, and then read while listening to it...(it takes a bit to get in in my head and heart...lol)

Resources I will be using: Reformation Study Bible ESV, Reformation Heritage Study Bible KJV, Luke Volume 1 by J.C. Ryle, Advent study books by Dr. James Montgomery Boice and Sinclair Ferguson, and Sermons on Luke 1 and 2 by John Calvin. Also, please look forward to sermon links that I listen to to deepen my study from both well known, and local pastors. 

Praying many blessings and marvelous wonders this Advent study.

Song for today:Prepare Him Room