happy new year

Well, another year has gone by and we begin anew in many ways. To celebrate I'll be having Christmas tomorrow with my family, but I don't know when.

I'll also be trying to convince my Mom to let me have the rest of the week off to go hiking and camping (in the snow...sweet!) I hope you all have a great day. Remember that Christ is King of all and you, yourself, are worth nothing but He has graciously died out of His love for you if you believe on Him. So, believe and "meet me in heaven."

-joe

merry christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you have spent some time thinking and rejoicing in the birth of Christ today.

I had many plans for the day. The only one accomplished?...Going to my brother and sister-in-laws for lunch. I was also planning the following:
1. Reading a good portion of Calvin's Institutes
2. Finishing my sermon for Sunday
3. Finishing these books (20 pages or less each) Brothers We are Not Professionals, Let the Nations be Glad, Cost of Discipleship, Fit Bodies Fat Minds.
4. Going over to Nigel's. (I came home to take a quick nap and just now woke up...8 hours later)
5. Going on a quick hike up the river.

Well, hopefully I can get some of that reading done tomorrow. I'm planning on working on my sermon until I fall asleep again.

-joe

christmas traditions

Sorry that I did not have a post for today. I was busy having fun at my sister's expense. She "didn't realize" that she couldn't park a foot away from a fire hydrant and got my grandma's car towed in Chicago. Now, that proved to be one extremely entertaining evening. (And, for once, it wasn't me making the dumb mistake and having everyone laugh.)

Anyway...

My parents and sisters are heading to Florida this Saturday to spend a week in Orlando. That is probably the closest thing to tradition that my family has regarding the Christmas season. (We spent over half of my childhood X-mases in Florida.) We, sometimes with great joy, have no great attachment to the actual day or week leading up to the 25th.

In recent years (since I first left for college) we have started a few traditions. We drive over to Pulaski (pronounced Pu-lass-kee) in Pulaski (pronounced Pu-lass-kigh) county and look at the town entirely covered in Christmas lights. That's right. The entire town is decorated. It is pretty sweet.

We also go to the Chinese restaurant in town on Christmas Eve (we had to after I convinced my Dad it was that he had to watch "A Christmas Story") and then head over to the Baptist Church (where I now work) for the evening service.

I suppose those are traditions, but they are only recent traditions. Each is probably 5 years old or so.

But even though these are recent things, they are still very ingrained in us to do them. It is strange to me how traditions start and continue on and I wonder at their persistence at times.

I also wish for more tradition...sometimes. Traditions can ground us and make us feel firm, but they can also make us stoic and unchanging.

The same is true of our Christian faith. We all have traditions (old and new) and the Church itself has traditions (old and new). It is up to us to determine the worth of those and to either continue them or let them dissolve. It is often a difficult and trying process to cut out the antiquated or unBiblical traditions, but at times it is very necessary.

And our family must do the same with our traditions. If ever the Chinese joint should close or move out, and another move in, I doubt that we'd go there. We would be too attached to the old restaurant, the people and the food.

What then happens when we toss out a Christian tradition? Do we attempt to replace it or simply keep the void?

I'll let you think for a day and then tell you what I think...

-joe

Lo!

Ever since I heard Derek Webb sing "Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming" it has been a favorite of mine. And so, I will post the lyrics and chat about them a bit.

Lo! how a rose e'er blooming
From tender stem hat sprung!
Of Jesse's lineage coming
As men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half-spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it,
The rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it,
The virgin mother kind.
To show god's love a right
She bore to men a Savior,
When half-spent was the night.

This flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere.
true man, yet very God,
From sin and death He saves us
And lightens every load.

My favorite of the verses is definitely the second. The precious fulfillment of prophecy and a view of Mary seldom thought. She beheld the same miracle that we now talk about. She was there...she felt it. She knew it in a way that is indescribable. Truly, she found favor with God.

And those final words, to show God's love aright...she bore to men a Savior. Oh, how that needs to ring true in my own heart. God's love is aright, now. He has fulfilled all and made atonement and now is seated at the right hand. How glorious is the God who loves.

-joe

corny christmas tv

My family has started the only tradition that has made it through the years...watching sappy Christmas movies. Every. Single. Night.

These movies suck the life right out of me. It is like breathing in toxic air and being told that it is the freshest mountain air in the world. Most Christmas movies are centered on the idea that people are good at heart and just need some person in their lives to love them and then POOF...they are once again a great person.

These movies do nothing to exalt the name of Christ and how He is the only one who can move a person from their default bad state of being the awesome righteousness given to us by virtue of His blood.

They also start on the premise that all of the characters were once "good kids" who just went awry sometime later in life. Sorry, that doesn't hold up. We are all horrible kids. A few of us are better at obeying and keeping the rules, but we're still bad. We still suck at life. No kid is good. No kid deserves to get those Christmas gifts.

The reason we give gifts is not because a kid or person has been good enough to deserve them, but because God has granted to us a gift we don't deserve. So, we give gifts that are undeserved so that in them, the Gospel of Jesus Christ may be shown. We give graciously and joyously to those who have done nothing to receive because Christ has done the same for us.

So, this year, as you begin your Christmas shopping, think of Christ. Dwell on His gift and then, in that spirit, give to the people in your lives...because they don't deserve it and God graciously gave you what you also didn't deserve.

-joe

one book11

Despite the fact that I'd love to recommend lots of books (I can think of at least 15 I've read this year) I am only going to recommend one. That's right. Just one. And I've only recently read it (finished it just minutes ago).

The book? Mark Dever's The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. It is simple. It is short. It is powerful.

I could spend lots of time talking about other great books by Piper, Edwards, Owen, Lewis, Sproul or Carson. I could talk about my love of the books and resources from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. But, no matter how great and inspiring these books are, I think Dever's has the most practical implication for everyone. (I could probably argue for Don't Waste Your Life, too).

10 reasons you should get this book...

10. It is short. Really, 108 pages with the Foreword, Intro and Appendix. Less than 100 pages in the actual book.

9. It is cheap. From $5.32...you can't beat it.

8. It is practical. What is more practical than learning about the Gospel and how to tell people about it?

7. Great endorsements. John MacArthur, J.I. Packer, Randy Newman, Thabiti Anyabwile, Robert Coleman, Johnny Hunt, John Folmar, David Thomas, J. Mack Stiles. Seriously...those are some pretty big props.

6. the Foreword. C.J. Mahaney writes in the foreword

"If you, like me, have walked through entire days unconcerned and unaware of the lost sinners all around you, or if you desire to share the gospel but are unsure how to build a relationship or start a conversation, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism will encourage and equip you."

5. No theological jargon. I love studying hard to read stuff...but this is easy. No big, unknown, need a dictionary words. Dever uses normal language to communicate timeless truth.

4. Something for everyone. Whether you side with the Reformed, the Liberal or the Emergent...you will benefit from something in this book.

3. Useful chapters.
Chapter titles:
Why Don't We Evangelize?
What Is the Gospel?
Who Should Evangelize?
How Should We Evangelize?
What Isn't Evangelism?
What Should We Do After We Evangelize?
Why Should We Evangelize?

2. Cuts to the quick. Gems like this "When we don't sufficiently consider what God has done for us in Christ...we lose the heart to evangelize."

1. Cause I said it was awesome...the only criterion that should matter.

So, go buy it. Seriously. For you and the countless others to whom we should be declaring the Gospel, to the glory of God.

-joe