This is what I long for our church to be...

WORLD | Living lives in mid-spin | Andrée Seu Peterson | Nov. 13, 2012

Encouragement to Continue Steadfast in Prayer!

WORLD | A collection of prayers | Andrée Seu Peterson | Oct. 30, 2012

Mary, Did You Know...

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy will one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?

Did you know

that your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you've delivered

will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand?

Did you know

that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?

And when you kiss your little baby

You've kissed the face of God.

Mary, did you know? Mary, did you know?

The blind will see

The deaf will hear

The dead will live again

The lame will leap

The dumb will speak

The praises of The Lamb

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?

Mary, did you know

that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?

Did you know

that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?

This sleeping child you're holding

is the Great I Am.

For the mind-boggling, heart-warming, life-transforming mystery of the Incarnation, I give you thanks, O Lord. Amen.

"Mary, Did You Know?" lyrics by Mark Lowry, music by Buddy Greene. Copyright © 1991, 1993 Word Music, LLC (a div. of Word Music Group, Inc.), Rufus Music (Admin. by Gaither Copyright Management).

Love these words from David Jeremiah...

Full Circle I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.

John 16:28

Recommended Reading John 16:28-33

The life of Jesus is a perfect circle of symmetry. His conception and birth brought Him into the world. His resurrection and ascension took Him out of the world. At the beginning of life, He was conceived in a womb from which never a child had been born. At the end of life, He was placed in a tomb in which never a man had been laid. In this virgin womb, He was hidden for nine months; in the virgin tomb, for three days.


He left Mary's womb with a baby's cry and Joseph's tomb with a victor's shout. He was born to give us a life that's forgiven, and raised to give us a life that's forever. His body was sown perishable, but was raised imperishable. It was sown in dishonor but was raised in glory. It was sown in weakness but raised in power.

Because of His sacrifice, we can claim the words of the hymnist as our own: "Living, He loved me; dying He saved me; buried He carried my sins far away; rising He justified freely forever; one day He's coming -- O glorious day" (Wilber Chapman, 1908).

I agree with Ravi Zacharias' response to the Sandy Hook nightmare...

Tragedy at Newtown

Psalm 130

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

¹ From the depths of despair, O Lord,
    I call for your help.
² Hear my cry, O Lord.
    Pay attention to my prayer.

³ Lord, if you kept a record of our sins,
    who, O Lord, could ever survive?
⁴ But you offer forgiveness,
    that we might learn to fear you.

⁵ I am counting on the Lord;
    yes, I am counting on him.
    I have put my hope in his word.
⁶ I long for the Lord
    more than sentries long for the dawn,
    yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord;
    for with the Lord there is unfailing love.
    His redemption overflows.
⁸ He himself will redeem Israel
    from every kind of sin.

Advent

Isaiah 40

Comfort, O comfort my people, 

    says your God. 

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, 

    and cry to her 

  that she has served her term, 

    that her penalty is paid, 

  that she has received from the LORD’S hand 

    double for all her sins.

A voice cries out: 

  “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, 

    make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

Every valley shall be lifted up, 

    and every mountain and hill be made low; 

  the uneven ground shall become level, 

    and the rough places a plain. 

Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, 

    and all people shall see it together, 

    for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Behold, The Lord God comes with might,

   and His arm rules for Him;

behold His reward is with Him,

   and His recompense before Him.

He will tend His flock like a shepherd;

   He will gather the lambs in His arms,

He will carry them in His bosom,

   and gently lead those that are with young.

Revelation 7

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
"Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
 the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every
tear from their eyes."

We eagerly wait for the second coming of our Shepherd Savior even as we prepare to celebrate His first coming!