Spencer DeBlog (Page 10)

“To think that Christmas is more about the stable in Bethlehem than about the cross in Jerusalem is to regard the acorn as more important than the oak…The Christmas message is not merely the fact that God became man by being born of the virgin Mary; the Christmas message is the reason for the…

  Record Setting Numbers for our Christmas Services!!! The attendance numbers are in and we set a new record. We haven’t had such small numbers in ten years. In first service there were 56 people on the platform and about that many in the auditorium (right at 9:00) by the time they officially counted (at 9:45) there were 261 people here. Second service had a similar…

This little list is full of great ideas — http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2013/12/18/15-ways-to-bless-your-missionaries-this-christmas-without-paying-postage/    

  Be here Sunday morning for Romans chapter 16. The Apostle Paul’s Facebook.   Be here Sunday night for our fellowship meal. Join us at 6:00. Bring a dish to share. Wear your tacky Christmas sweater (big, colossal, gigantic prizes awarded for the tackiest).   We have two big outreach mornings on Sunday December 15 and December 22. The 15th our children will…

Here are a few news items of particular interest to Christians and Churches —   Pastor’s housing allowance (this decision happened right here in Wisconsin) http://erlc.com/article/erlc-guidestone-united-housing-allowance   The Employment Non-Discrimination Act http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/11/13/the-faqs-enda/   Marriage and the common…

  Seven quick thoughts – Archibald Alexander was the founding professor at Princeton. What’s not to love about the name Archibald? He lived from 1772-1851. Can you imagine a Professor at Princeton saying this today? I love the clarity with which he speaks of the saved and the unsaved. The image he paints of the ark and the fluttering dove finding rest is so…

The iron bars slammed shut and he sat in the jail cell alone. His crime? Preaching the gospel. That’s what happened to John Bunyan in 1665. In that jail cell he wrote this poem.       I am indeed in prison now In body, but my mind Is free to study Christ, and how Unto me he is kind. For tho’ men keep my outward man Within their locks and bars,…

  Ten Sentence Review of Letters of Samuel Rutherford This is an easy book to dip into for a few minutes from time to time as it does not need to be read carefully cover to cover. Rutherford is unashamed to express the depth of his love for Jesus. “I write not these letters with a dry face, yet I am confident that Christ shall oversway at the last though we suffer…

  Five gems from Letters to Malcolm   The distance between the abstract “Does God hear petitionary prayers?” and the concrete “Will He – can He – grant our prayers for George?” is apparently infinite.   The prayer preceding all prayer is “May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to.”   A man who first tried to guess ‘what…

Last night I finished “Letters to Malcolm Chiefly on Prayer” by C.S. Lewis Here is my ten sentence review…   It’s only 123 pages. It’s filled with quotable lines. Divided up into 22 letters, it’s perfect for reading one each morning or evening. It isn’t a book of biblical or theological study. It isn’t a practical book on how to pray. If you have…