Waiting for the Coming of the King - 4th December

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
- Isaiah 7v14

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 3rd December

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
- Matthew 1v18-25

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 2nd December

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

New this week from the UCCF media machine...

Waiting for the Coming of the King - 1st December

Waiting for the Coming of the King - Starts Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is 1st December, which means Christmas is only 25 days away! Here on the blog I'll be counting the days with a video advent calendar (which is a slightly jazzed-up version of my audio advent calendar from last year). Each day there will be a short (about 1min) clip based around a phrase of picture connected with Christmas. Some are the usual things you'd find in any advent calendar, others are a bit more unusual.

Join me over the next 24 days as we wait for the coming of King Jesus!

Grace is the Word!

Over the past few months, I've found myself talking about grace a lot. I think some of my students think I'm a bit like a broken record, saying the same thing over and over again. But I've told them I'm fine with that. In fact, I'd be quite happy to have it written on my gravestone one day! In my first few months working for UCCF, it's been made obvious to me again that the gospel of grace is the answer to whatever issue or question I happen to be taling about. And I'm excited about the effects grace is having and will have in the lives of people I spend time with.

Partly because of all this talk about grace, and partly because I spotted it on my bookshelf, I'm reading a great little book by D.L. Moody called "Sovereign Grace." It was published in 1891 (I don't think my copy is that old, but it does have a dedication written in it dated 1933). I've read a few chapters, and I love it. With no time-wasting and no apology, Moody gets straight into the life-transforming subject of grace, and passionately calls the reader to stop trying to earn God's forgiveness and accept it as a free gift. It's brilliant, heart-warming stuff.

I'd love to quote loads of it - it's a very quotable book. And I'm sure in future posts there will be more. But I loved this bit from chapter one. Moody quotes a letter sent to him by a friend (who sadly remains anonymous), and it got me really excited. It's a longish passage, but worth it I think...

"'By the grace of God, I am what I am!' This is the believer's eternal confession. Grace found him a rebel - it leaves him a son. Grace found him wandering at the gates of hell - it leads him through the gates of heaven. Grace devised the scheme of Redemption: Justice never would; Reason never could. And it is grace which carries out that scheme. No sinner ever sought his God but 'by grace.' The thickets of Eden would have proved Adam's grave, had not grace called him out. Saul would have lived and died the haughty self-righteous persecutor, had not grace laid him low. The thief would have continued breathing out his blasphemies, had not grace arrested his tongue and tuned it for glory."