He has come! the Christ of God...

He has come! the Christ of God;—

Left for us His glad abode;

Stooping from His throne of bliss,

To this darksome wilderness.

 

He has come! the Prince of Peace;—

Come to bid our sorrows cease;

Come to scatter, with His light,

All the darkness of our night.

 

He, the Mighty King, has come!

Making this poor world His home;

Come to bear our sin’s sad load,—

Son of David, Son of God.

 

He has come whose name of grace

Speaks deliverance to our race;

Left for us His glad abode,—

Son of Mary, Son of God!

 

Unto us a Child is born!

Ne’er has earth beheld a morn

Among all the morns of time,

Half so glorious in its prime.

 

Unto us a Son is given!

He has come from God’s own heaven;

Bringing with Him, from above,

Holy peace and holy love.

...Horatius Bonar

Sermon on the mount: Matthew 5:27-30

 

Pastor Rob Burns: Matthew 5:27-30 

 December 10, 2023

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. 

-Matthew 5:27-30

If He could grow weary of me...

If He could grow weary of me, He would have been tired of me long before now. If He had not loved me with a love as deep as hell, and as strong as death, He would have turned from me long ago. Oh, joy above all joys, to know that I am His everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to Him by His Father e'er the earth was! Everlasting love shall be the pillow for my head this night. -CH Spurgeon

Sermon on the mount: Dealing with anger...

 

Pastor Rob Burns: Matthew 5:21-26 

 December 3, 2023 

 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.  So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. -Matthew 5:21-26

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law...

 

Pastor Rob Burns: Matthew 5:17-20 

 November 26, 2023 

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. -Matthew 5:17-20

Goodness of God...

 

 Goodness of God/Don Moen

I love You Lord

Oh Your mercy never fails me

All my days

I've been held in Your hands

From the moment that I wake up

Until I lay my head

I will sing of the goodness of God

Chorus

All my life You have been faithful

All my life You have been so so good

With every breath that I am able

I will sing of the goodness of God

I love Your voice

You have led me through the fire

In darkest night

You are close like no other

I've known You as a father

I've known You as a friend

I have lived in the goodness of God

Your goodness is running after

It’s running after me

Your goodness is running after

It’s running after me

With my life laid down

I’m surrendered now

I give You everything

Your goodness is running after

It's running after me

The Thrill of Hope- Advent Hymn

 

Christy Nockels -The Thrill of Hope- Advent Hymn

Christ whose glory fills the skies

Christ the Everlasting Light

Son of Righteousness arise

And triumph o'er these shades of night

Come Thou long awaited One

In the fullness of Your love

Loose this heart bound up by shame

And I will never be the same

So here I wait in hope of You

My soul's longing through and through

Dayspring from on high be near

Daystar in my heart appear

Dark and cheerless is the morn

'Till Your love in me is born

Joyless is the evening sun

'Till Emmanuel has come

So here I wait in hope of You

My soul's longing through and through

Dayspring from on high be near

Daystar in my heart appear

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

 

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Keith & Kristyn Getty, JJ Heller

Let all mortal flesh keep silence

And with fear and trembling stand

Ponder nothing earthly-minded

For, with blessing in His hand

Christ our God to earth descendeth

Our full homage to demand

King of kings, yet born of Mary

As of old on earth He stood

Lord of lords, in human vesture

In the body and the blood

He will give to all the faithful

His own self for heav'nly food

Rank on rank the host of heaven

Spreads its vanguard on the way

As the Light of light descendeth

From the realms of endless day

That the pow'rs of hell may vanish

As the darkness clears away

At His feet the six-winged seraph

Cherubim with sleepless eye

Veil their faces to the Presence

As with ceaseless voice they cry

“Alleluia, alleluia

Alleluia, Lord Most High!

Alleluia, Lord Most High!”

Good Shepherds...

by Peter J. Leithart

First Things

11/24/23

Excerpt:

When the shepherds hear the angels’ message, they praise God, honor the infant king, and announce his arrival throughout the region. The shepherds of Bethlehem are a pledge that Jesus’s birth will usher in a new era for the people of God, when sheep will no longer be terrified by their own shepherds.

As Mary sings in the Magnificat, Jesus comes to scatter the proud, bring down rulers from their thrones, and send the rich away empty. Mary’s song isn’t metaphorical, and we shouldn’t spiritualize it, any more than we should spiritualize the similar song Hannah sings at the birth of her son, Samuel. Like Samuel, Jesus revives his people, and to do that he needs to topple bloodthirsty kings like Herod and cast down scribes who, like Pharaoh, weigh down the people with unbearable burdens. When Jesus is finished with Israel, she has a new elite. Humble fishermen are exalted to the chief seats, the poor and hungry are filled. Peter, James, and John replace Herod’s court, and the converted Pharisee, Paul, displaces greedy, glory-seeking Pharisees as chief teacher. 

It’s been happening ever since... 

Read it all...

Known and Loved...

Known and Loved/CityAlight

God you were there from my beginning

For I was crafted by your hands

You see my hopes and hesitations

My days are written in you plan

If you have seen my weakest moments

And still you love me even then

I need no greater confirmation

That God your goodness has no end

CHORUS

I come to Jesus, lay down my weakness

No need for hiding, here in His light

This truth I treasure, my peace forever

Is being known and loved by Him

I trust with Jesus it is finished

For He has paid my every debt

No need to pull it all together

For what is broken He will mend

Though I can’t see the path before me

I know the one who knows the way

And as I walk His hand will guide me

Until I see Him face to face

On That Day...

 

On That Day/CityAlight 

I believe in Christ, risen from the dead

He now reigns victorious, His kingdom knows no end

Through His resurrection death has lost its hold

I know on that final day I’ll rise as Jesus rose

CHORUS

On that day we will see you shining brighter than the sun

On that day we will know you as we lift our voice as one

Till that day we will praise you for your never ending grace

And we will keep on singing on that glorious day

What a blessed hope, though now tired and worn

We will spend eternity around our Saviour’s throne

Though we grieve our losses we grieve not in vain

For we know our crown of glory waits beyond the grave

BRIDGE

Hallelujah what a day it will be

For at home with you my joy is complete

As I run into your arms open wide I will see

My father who is waiting for me

Wait on the Lord...

“‘Wait on the Lord’ is a constant refrain in the Psalms, and it is a necessary word, for God often keeps us waiting. He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not his way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time. When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When action is needed, light will come.”(J.I. Packer)

When Father Joseph Ratzinger Predicted the Future of the Church...

When Father Joseph Ratzinger Predicted the Future of the Church 

Way before becoming pope, or even a prelate, Ratzinger laid it out in a 1969 broadcast on German radio for all to hear. He didn’t pretend he could tell the future. No. He was much too wise for that....

Excerpt: 

“Let us go a step farther. From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge — a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so it will lose many of her social privileges. In contrast to an earlier age, it will be seen much more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision. As a small society, it will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members. Undoubtedly it will discover new forms of ministry and will ordain to the priesthood approved Christians who pursue some profession. In many smaller congregations or in self-contained social groups, pastoral care will normally be provided in this fashion. Along-side this, the full-time ministry of the priesthood will be indispensable as formerly. But in all of the changes at which one might guess, the Church will find her essence afresh and with full conviction in that which was always at her center: faith in the triune God, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, in the presence of the Spirit until the end of the world. In faith and prayer she will again recognize the sacraments as the worship of God and not as a subject for liturgical scholarship.

“The Church will be a more spiritual Church, not presuming upon a political mandate, flirting as little with the Left as with the Right. It will be hard going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek. The process will be all the more arduous, for sectarian narrow-mindedness as well as pompous self-will will have to be shed. One may predict that all of this will take time. The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution — when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain — to the renewal of the nineteenth century. But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret."  Image

The Sermon on the Mount

 Pastor Rob Burns: Matthew 5:1-12 

 November 12, 2023 

The Sermon on the Mount

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

The Beatitudes

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons[a] of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Day After Day, Jesus Reigns...

 

 Day After Day, Jesus Reigns/CityAlight

In the morning as I pray 

For the day that You have made 

I have hope and I have peace 

For Your presence is with me 

So whatever comes my way 

Lord remind me of this grace 

I can face it with this hope 

Jesus won’t forget His own 

CHORUS

Jesus holds me safely in His hands 

Ever close he leads me in His plans 

When I can’t see the way 

I have hope and I have faith 

Day after day, Jesus reigns

In the evening as I rest

I recall Your faithfulness

How You never left my side

From the morning to the night

Now until the dawning sun

Be the light that leads me on

I can face it with this hope

Jesus won’t forget His own 

 

BRIDGE

Always before me

And always beside me

My shepherd is always close

Morning to evening

Each day that I’m given

My shepherd is always close 

For tomorrow this I pray

Father help me live Your way

Every breath and every word

For the glory of the Lord

If the day should test my faith

Or fill my heart with songs of praise

I can face it with this hope

Jesus won’t forget His own

God does not leave us comfortless...

God does not leave us comfortless, but we have to be in dire need of comfort to know the truth of his promise. It is in time of calamity . . . in days and nights of sorrow and trouble that the presence, the sufficiency, and the sympathy of God grow very sure and very wonderful. Then we find out that the grace of God is sufficient for all our needs, for every problem, and for every difficulty, for every broken heart, and for every human sorrow. -Peter Marshall

God is over all...

God Is Over All-CityAlight

God You hold the world in hand 

Mountains move at Your command 

Yet my needs You will provide 

As a father loves his child 

CHORUS

God is over all

God is over all

I will sing for it is well 

My God is over all 

God You saw the sin in me

For you reign in majesty

Jesus died to make me clean

Jesus rose to set me free 

God above all time and space

You are never far away

For in Jesus I can see

How you are a friend to me 

Sermon: Jesus Begins His Ministry

Pastor Rob Burns: Matthew 4:12-25 

November 5, 2023

12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

16 the people dwelling in darkness

    have seen a great light,

and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,

    on them a light has dawned.”

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Sermon: "God never wastes a wilderness time..."

 

Pastor Rob Burns: Matthew 4:1-11 

October 29, 2023

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God

    and him only shall you serve.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. -Matthew 4:1-11

The Lord Is By My Side...

 

 CityAlight/ The Lord Is By My Side

I know my Shepherd gives me peace 

The Lord is by my side 

For every day He walks with me 

The Lord is by my side 

The Lord is by my side 

Forever by my side 

His hope, His strength, His peace is mine 

I know my Shepherd gives me strength

The Lord is by my side

For I am small and He is great

The Lord is by my side 

I know my Shepherd gives me hope

The Lord is by my side

For He will lead me safely home

The Lord is by my side 

And when I look back surely I will see 

Your goodness and love they have followed me 

For when I look back surely I will see 

My Shepherd has laid down his life for me