December 2010
28 posts
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25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 20
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men. - Luke 2:13
Mystery 3 of 3: Who are the heavenly host?
The heavenly host is essentially the armies of heaven. Just know that we’re talking about a lot of heavenly troops here. I love what the commentary by David Brown...
WatchThis video demonstrates the effect of depth of field in real time. For the greatest effect, watch the blue bell in the upper right portion of the screen. Watch different parts of the screen, noting what happens to the pictures. This video was created with a 300mm lens using a series of photos taken from f/5.6 to f/39.
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 19 →
Mystery 2 of 3: What are turtledoves?
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 18
Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.
Mystery 1 of 3: What is swaddling?
I call it baby origami. [Image used from swaddler.info via google image search.]
Song Title: All My Tears
Artist: Jars of Clay
...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 15 →
John Piper had some wonderful things to say back in 1980 about Jesus as a Horn of Salvation. Follow the link to read his thoughts.
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 14
My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Days 12 and 13
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 11
(See Yesterday’s Post for Today’s Preface)
Zechariah was overwhelmed with fear.
The presence of the Lord demands great respect.
Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! And now, since you don’t believe what I said, you won’t be able to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 10
One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary and burn incense in the Lord’s presence. While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.
Zechariah was in the sanctuary when an angel of the Lord appeared, standing to the right of the incense altar. ...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 9
I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way. A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentence for the forgineness of sings. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sings, they were...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 8
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. – Mark 1:1 (KJV)
khrē-sto’s
So oddly enough, I wrote today’s post over a month ago while in a long term word study I’ve been doing on the New Testament…
Matthew 1 began my curiosity. What exactly does the word...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 7
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. – Mark 1:1 (KJV)
är-khā’ yü-än-ge’-lē-on
Mark is a little more scarce in his recounting of Christmas than Matthew – the book of Mark focuses almost exclusively on the ministry, death and resurrection of...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 6
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” - Matthew 2:1-2
God is King
If there is one thing I often miss in reading the New Testament, it is God’s kingship. If you don’t believe me, read the gospels...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 5
Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, And he will be called Immanuel (meaning, God is with us). - Isaiah 7:14, 8:8,8:10
God is Revelationary
Yesterday I said that God is mysterious. It is good for us that from time to time He is willing to reveal his mysteries. The words above were written by Isaiah, many hundreds of years prior to the birth of Jesus. The...
ADVENTure
Don’t worry folks. I have not stopped my ADVENTure posts. My website service went down for the past two days. Things are back up and running now.
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 4
Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
And he will be called Immanuel
(meaning, God is with us).
Matthew 1:23
God is Mysterious
How many pregnant virgins do you know? How many humans do you know who can claim authorship of the universe?
The other day, one of my students asked me what the word “incarnation” meant in terms of religion. So I told her of the...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 3
As [Joseph] considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream…when Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. - Book of Matthew
On Being a Faithful Man
God said, “do this,” and Joseph did it. He continues to live out his faith through righteousness. Do we follow God’s word with this level of faith?
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 2
Now the birth of Jesus Christtook place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. – Matthew 1:18-19
On Being a Merciful Man
When Joseph finds out that his fiancé is pregnant…he responds...
25 Days of ADVENTure - Day 1
Now this is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiance, being a just man, decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly. - Matthew 1:18-19 (NLT)
On Being a Just Man
Joseph is said to be a “just” man. This term...