It is a wonderful time of year, but especially when we are experiencing the presence of the One who is called Wonderful! How I look forward to Advent with you, my precious sisters!
persons frostThe podcast this week is Keller’s “God of Wonders”
https://podcast.gospelinlife.com/e/the-god-of-wonders/
Keller has a big challenge for us at the end of the week. Let’s help one another really do it!
God Hunt Sunday
1. How did you see God at work in your life or world this last Thanksgiving week or weekend?
Monday: The People Walking in Darkness
A little context: God’s Kingdom is divided, and the northern Kingdom has been disciplined by God through Assyria. When Isaiah mentions Zebulun and Naphtali, he is probably referring to all of the Northern Kingdom of Israel between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. Our expert in Isaiah, Alec Motyer, explains that the first area to fall to the Assyrians (734 B.C.) will also be the first to see messianic light. (Matt. 4:12-23) Of course, this is over 700 years later, which just shows God sees time so differently. It makes me think of how Paul tells us to cheer up in our little transitory troubles, for one day it will all be reversed.
2. Read Isaiah 9:1-5
A. What promise is given to God’s suffering people here?
B. How long will it be before that Light comes?
C. What else stands out to you from this passage and why?
3. Read Matthew 4:12-17. How does this fulfill the promise?
4. Think about a transitory trouble you recently faced or are facing.
A. How is the Lord of Light helping you with it right now?
B. How will it be completely reversed on the Great Day of the New Heaven and New Earth?
C. Use this Scripture as a springboard for prayer.
Tuesday: For Unto Us A Son Is Given
5. Meditate on Isaiah 9:6. Take some time and share your thoughts.
In Tim Keller’s podcast, he begins not with Wonderful, but with Counselor, which he says means wisdom. Listen from the beginning to the break at 15:30.
6. What does Keller say the term counselor embraces?
7. Share one time when this Counselor gave wisdom that really helped you find your way.
8. Keller says the world embraces Christmas seeing it as terribly affirming when it is actually confrontational. What did he mean?
9. What was his point about being a young father working upstairs with 3 boys playing downstairs?
10. How is Christ’s birth a paradigm for how the world thinks of power? How do you see this repeatedly in Scripture? (Give an example).
11. Liberal churches do not take the Christmas account literally but reinterpret them. How does Keller show the silliness of this?
Wednesday: Worldly Wisdom Cannot Give
12. List the three things that worldly wisdom cannot do.
13. How is God helping you face your own death with assurance and joy? Be specific. Use Scripture if possible.
14. How is God helping you make peace with your past? Again: specific and scripture.
15. How is God helping you forgive your enemies? Again: specific and scripture.
Thursday: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace
16. Choose one of the above names and really meditate on it and share what it means to you.
17. Listen to the second half of Keller’s podcast:
A. What did Jonathan Edwards say about mature Christians?
B. How did C. S. Lewis explain what God tells us to praise Him?
C. “Praise is inner health made audible.” With this as a guideline, how healthy is your soul?
D. What else stood out to you and why?
Friday: Action Assignment – 15 minutes of Praise
Take Isaiah 9:6 as a springboard for praise. This is going to be challenging to do it for 15 minutes, but let us do it.
You can include this song and meditate on it with your whole mind, heart, and soul. That’s 3 and a half minutes!
Then take every name of God given and write it down — and anything the Spirit shows you! Perhaps a hymn will come to mind to sing. May the Lord help us to do this!
Saturday:
18. What is your take-a-way and why?
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Grateful for this fellowship of women.
I scanned ahead to Monday’s reading here and was struck again by the waiting time of God. How we can be in a long, dark winter of the soul and how the light pierces through with hope. This song is for those in the middle of a long waiting.
This is a clip of a song my daughter sang three years ago.
I hope this excerpt works:
https://photos.google.com/search/_tv_videos/photo/AF1QipPnpLY1u-aOLV7oCZ5SgD7yPhphZUB3_Mm8oYyt
Some of the lyrics of Seasons by Hillsong:
Like the frost on a rose
Winter comes for us all
Oh how nature acquaints us
With the nature of patience
Like a seed in the snow
I’ve been buried to grow
For Your promise is loyal
From seed to sequoia ……
Though the winter is long even richer
The harvest it brings
Though my waiting prolongs even greater
Your promise for me like a seed
I believe that my season will come……
Then if You’re not done working
God I’m not done waiting
You can see my promise
Even in the winter
Cause You’re the God of greatness
Even in a manger
For all I know of season
Is that You take Your tim
You could have saved us in a second
Instead You sent a child……
Thank-you Nila for sharing this beautiful song! I looked it up on you tube. I have never heard it before…it blessed my soul.
LOVE THE CLOSING LINES, NILA!
Nila,
Thank you for sharing these lyrics. I could not open the link, but will check it out on you tube. So beautiful. To sing is such a gift! To sing as a family, pure gold.
God Hunt Sunday
1. How did you see God at work in your life or world this last Thanksgiving week or weekend?
Presence. This word was very special to me this last Thanksgiving Week and weekend. God’s presence first, then the presence of people I love, and then for me to be present to others. I prayed to God especially for the latter-to savor the moments I have with the people brought to me by God and not be waylaid by the swirling demands on the mind of my time, effort, and my presence. Being with my husband’s side of the family, my husband, Richard, and I spending time with our daughter, Ruth, even just watching Enola Holmes (smile-so fun!), decorating the church for Christmas with my friend, Barb who is almost like a second mother to me. I see God’s handprint all over these experiences!
Timing. I was trying my hand at doodling this morning in my quiet time notebook taking time to appreciate the words I was writing. And what do you know? I opened Dee’s blog and the very words I was doodling, sprung out from the page-Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace! Isaiah 9:6
Dee, thank you once again for this blog. You are such a blessing to me!
Bing,
I smiled with your mention of the movie Enola Holmes ~ my husband an I watched that a few days ago as well 🙂
Also loved your comment about timing. Those moments when our God orchestrates “coincidences” that remind us that he sees us and that we matter.
So true, Nila! I find myself looking for God’s hand more often and it is mind-boggling to think of how He is so mindful of us. I think of you often and especially your son and grandchildren.
Such a beautiful God Hunt, Bing. I love the words: Presence and Timing. I need to Savor the moment: Be in the moment, instead my mind in fast forward of what I need to do. Amen to: so thankful for this blog dear Dee. You are such a blessing to me!
I love Enola Holmes too. 🙂
1. How did you see God at work in your life or world this last Thanksgiving week or weekend?
We had a good time away in the mountains for Thanksgiving, just my husband and I and our 2 boys. Even though my oldest is 16 and an avid outdoorsy-sporty type, he still loves crafts (!) so we had special time as a family making ornaments and also each made blankets for kids in foster care through a program I found, that was really special. As we finished, my older son gave me 2 treasures for my heart. First he said he hoped to marry someone who planned things like that for those in need, and then he suggested we pray over who would receive them.
I also had a gift from my pastor last week. He knows I have been going through a rough time with my mom and extended family and unfortunately my excruciating nerve pain that I had for 10 years but had been gone the last 3, returned. He prayed with me in a very special way, and took me through meditating on God’s truth about me and releasing the pain and fear with each breath out. I sobbed and it was beautiful, another treasure.
Lizzy, how wonderful to read this about your time in the mountains with your husband and sons, and the treasures you now have to store up in your heart, just like Mary. I am so sorry to hear that your nerve pain has returned, though, and will pray for you about that, and also the ongoing pain resulting from your mom and extended family. What your pastor did for you was truly beautiful, too.
Lizzy, what special treasures from your son and your pastor and the loving care of our Father through them. He sees you!
You really have a father/grandfather figure in your pastor — so glad!
Oh, Lizzy! What a lovely weekend! I am so happy to read this and hear the precious words of your oldest son. How I pray that God brings a loving, godly young woman into his life. What a beautiful compliment from a son to his mother. I love how your pastor prayed with you for your pain and fear. I am pray that your body and mind will be healed from this ongoing pain.
1. How did you see God at work in your life or world this last Thanksgiving week or weekend?
It was a blessing to have our son and his wife who live in Texas here for Thanksgiving. I miss seeing them so much. Bittersweet, though, to learn that due to his job, they will be moving out of the country next year (South America). Though they will be able to get home perhaps once or twice a year, for the next three years, it is sad for me to think of them being so far away. But also increases my desire to lean upon God to fulfill those longings of my heart. First Sunday of Advent service at my church this morning was beautiful, and as I went forward for Communion, some words and phrases from a poem by George Herbert were going through my mind (Love) “Love…questioning if I lacked anything….A guest, I answered, worthy to be here. Love said, You shall be he. I, the unkind, the ungrateful?….Know you not, says Love, who bore the blame….You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat. So I did sit and eat.”
I honestly felt lighter as I returned to my seat, and just kept saying to Him, “Thank You, thank You, thank You…”
Susan, I love the George Herbert poem. Thank you for sharing. That is quite the experience-“Know you not, says Love, who bore the blame….You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat. So I did sit and eat.” Wow!
South America is quite a distance! Praying for you, dear friend.
Yes — bittersweet — but love how God met you — and glad to see you back, Susan!
It’s good to be back, Dee! I went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in the UK in Northumbria in early September (group from my church) and also Durham Cathedral in Durham, UK. What a special, “thin” place is Lindisfarne. So many wonderful things happened there! Then I spent two weeks at our son and daughter-in-law’s home in NC as they had their second baby, so I was there to help with Thomas, who is now two.
Good to see you back, Susan. Yes, so bittersweet to have your son so far away. Thank you for sharing that beautiful George Herbert poem. Love your gratitude. I pray that Melanie is doing much better.
Susan,
I had not heard this poem before.
Thank you so much for sharing it here.
2. Read Isaiah 9:1-5
A. What promise is given to God’s suffering people here?
There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress (v 1). While in the past, God humbled the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, in the future He will honor that land. The people walking in darkness will see a great light. A light will dawn upon those living under the shadow of death. God will enlarge the nation and increase their joy, and the people will rejoice as those at the harvest. God will remove the yoke and burden of oppression and the rod of their oppressor.
B. How long will it be before that Light comes?
No specific date is given in this passage, but Isaiah says that “in the future” God will honor Galilee of the Gentiles. Yet I notice the verb tense in the following verses, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light….a light has dawned.” It’s a future prophecy yet worded as if it’s already happened.
C. What else stands out to you from this passage and why?
It is helpful to remember that a light has dawned, while yet living in this world that lies under the shadow of death. We have a light, the Light, to guide us, to walk alongside of us, and to ensure that we will reach our destination. And, it seems to me that we could also see the yoke that burdens, the bar across the shoulders, and the rod of the oppressor as the heavy burden of sin and shame that God never intends for us to carry, because He took that away at the Cross.
3. Read Matthew 4:12-17. How does this fulfill the promise?
After John was imprisoned, Jesus returned to Galilee and lived in Capernaum, which is in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. There, Jesus began his earthly ministry. The passage says that this was to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah (see above). Jesus, the Light, began to preach and proclaim the kingdom of God to the people living in that region. It was there that He called his disciples, and taught in the synagogues, preaching the good news and healing people of their diseases.
4.
Sunday
1. How did you see God at work in your life or world this last Thanksgiving week or weekend? My two grandsons spent most of the week with me, we had so much fun together! We took my dog for long walks and gathered pinecones and evergreen branches and other “treasures of nature” to use as decorations and gifts. I am really encouraged by the bond we have, it’s an affirmation of my prayerful decision to move all the way across the country to help their mother with them. God is answering my prayer to see something good in winter and not dread this cold, barren season.
What a sweet blessing, Lydia. What a beautiful influence you are to your grandsons.
❤️🙏❤️
Lydia, what a fun adventure with your grandsons!
❤️🙏❤️
God Hunt
Glad to be home, thankful for good prison visit and writing. Welcomed by church, neighbors, and loving discipling my pickleball friend who came to Christ last week! She said, “I’m giddy with joy.”
Thankful that all your travels went well, Dee. Love that your pickleball friend is Giddy with joy!
Dee, I am happy you had such a fruitful time in Texas and now have the pleasure of the company of your new sister-in-Christ, your pickleball friend!
1. How did you see God at work in your life or world this last Thanksgiving week or weekend?
Our daughter brought her sister in law (and her closest friend), for our Thanksgiving weekend. We had met Lori years ago, but had not seen her for a very long time. She is a delight. She was a caretaker for her mom, for three years, before her mom went to heaven. Her mom was her only family, so we were very happy that Dawn invited her to join us! She has wisdom beyond her years and gave me some great insights in caring for my dear husband. God blesses us in so many unexpected ways. I savored the entire weekend. Thank you Lord, for providing for each of us. Thank you, dear Jesus who surprises! As I sat at the kitchen table, talking with Lori, she showed me her bracelet that she never takes off. She told me she lives by the words: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. ” Phil 4:13
This is so beautiful Patti…..
How encouraging your conversations with her must have been.
Thank you, Nila, Bing, Lydia, Susan and Dee! God’s timing is always perfect!
What a special gift to have received this Thanksgiving weekend, Patti! Thank you, Lord, for Lori.
What a blessing from the Lord for you Patti! God knows just what we need at just the right time.
Patti, what a gift it was to have Lori with you for Thanksgiving!
How lovely. Dawn’s sister in law?
Yes, Dawn’s sister in law. 🙂
2.) Read Isaiah 9: 1-5
A. What promise is given to God’s suffering people here?
The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light. Jesus will be the light of this nation.
B. How long will it be before that Light comes?
Scripture does not tell an exact time. As Dee mentions above, it was over 700 years~ God’s timing is so different than our timing.
C. What else stands out to you from this passage and why?
I love this: “He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. ” Fulfilled by Jesus’ ministry. “For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders.” It brings this passage to mind: Matthew 11: 28-29 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your shoulders. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
3. Read Matthew 4:12-17. How does this fulfill the promise?
Jesus left Nazareth and settled in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, fulfilling the Isaiah 9 scripture.
4. Think about a transitory trouble you recently faced or are facing.
A. How is the Lord of Light helping you with it right now?
The Lord continues to bring ministering angels into my life, in this wonderful blog and through family, friends and our pastor.
B. How will it be completely reversed on the Great Day of the New Heaven and New Earth?
2 Corinthians 4:17 “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” The weight of our affliction will be reversed for we will share His eternal weight of Glory; being eternally in the light of our Father.
C. Use this Scripture as a springboard for prayer.
Lord, we all have pain and affliction in this life. Through our pain and suffering, we turn to You. We see Your love through answered prayer, in Your perfect time. We seen Your love in the beautiful friends and family, who come to us in our hour of need. And You give us the love and strength to support others in their pain. Perhaps, this works into the weaving of our fellowship, that we all so need. It is joy that You give us, as we support each other through Your love for us. You give us a desire to help those in need, to care for the poor, the sad, the tired and the sick. How I Praise You for the great gift of Your Son. How I Praise You for this time of year and remembrance of the Great Light that You sent to save the world. How I Praise Your Name, Your Power and Your Glory as long as I have breath.
Love your prayer. Prayed it!
2. Read Isaiah 9:1-5
A. What promise is given to God’s suffering people here?
They will see the dawning of the light and they can rejoice as God will shatter the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors.
B. How long will it be before that Light comes?
When Jesus comes!
C. What else stands out to you from this passage and why?
That people in darkness will see the light. I was struck by this as could it be possible that the light could come, and some will not see it? I thought about one of the sessions with Paige. God must open our eyes.
It is a comfort to know that the light has come and it can penetrate the darkness in the world right now while we wait for the Everlasting Light to come again!
1. Read Matthew 4:12-17. How does this fulfill the promise?
Jesus, the light, came and lived in Capernaum which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali.
2. Think about a transitory trouble you recently faced or are facing.
A. How is the Lord of Light helping you with it right now?
He is opening my eyes beyond what the circumstances are-that they are according to His purposes, for His glory, for my good. And Because He loves me!
B. How will it be completely reversed on the Great Day of the New Heaven and New Earth?
No more pain, no more sorrow, no more what ifs and if onlys, only everlasting joy in His presence.
C. Use this Scripture as a springboard for prayer.
Lord, I praise you that from eternity past, you have planned the Light who will vanish all darkness from the world and most especially from our souls will come to us. Because you are the light, your ever brightness will be with us, journeying with us through the valleys and mountains of life, never leaving us nor forsaking us. I praise you that when darkness starts looming, we can cry out to the Light and He will come to banish it.
Amen to your beautiful prayer, Bing.
2. Read Isaiah 9:1-5
A. What promise is given to God’s suffering people here? An end to their gloom and honor to come to them. they will rejoice a shattering of the yoke that burdens them
B. How long will it be before that Light comes? 700 years
C. What else stands out to you from this passage and why? They go from humbling to honor What a magnificent God He doesn’t leave us in the depth of sin and punishment
3. Read Matthew 4:12-17. How does this fulfill the promise? Jesus, the Light of the world, went there
4. Think about a transitory trouble you recently faced or are facing.
A. How is the Lord of Light helping you with it right now? I’m waiting for Him to clue me in
B. How will it be completely reversed on the Great Day of the New Heaven and New Earth? Everything will fade away when we are restored with Him,
C. Use this Scripture as a springboard for prayer. I thank You Lord for Your endless love Please shine Your Light onto why and what I’m holding onto that is causing me to tense Thank You
What a wise request to God in 4 C! I was thinking as I had late flights going to Texas, “If I trusted You, I wouldn’t be tense!”
Amen to Dee: I need this on my refrigerator to read daily. Thank you, Judy. “Please shine Your Light onto why and what I’m holding onto that is causing me to tense Thank You”
4. Think about a transitory trouble you recently faced or are facing.
A. How is the Lord of Light helping you with it right now?
My transitory trouble continues to be the feelings of emptiness and loneliness that I often experience. Some of it is caused by this stage in my life which is a transitional stage, transitioning into the “empty-nest”, some of it is feeling the separation from my adult kids and grandchildren as we are physically separated from each other by many, many miles and FaceTime is not the same as getting to play with and hold my grandchildren! Some of it is the lack of intimacy and connection in my marriage, and also trying to imagine my new purpose in this stage of life and being unsure.
I believe that the Lord has placed many spiritually good new opportunities before me, opportunities for spiritual growth and connecting to Him in new ways through new spiritual practices. He has also been bringing new companions for the journey into my life and new opportunities to serve.
B. How will it be completely reversed on the Great Day of the New Heaven and New Earth?
I don’t suppose I will feel lonely when the Lord returns and I am with Him. That longing for real, deep, intimate connection will be filled.
C. Use this Scripture as a springboard for prayer.
Lord, I so look forward to the day when we will see You face to face, and we will no longer live under the shadows cast by this world, the shadows of evil, sickness, diseases, accidents, death, loneliness, sadness, and even despair. Things will not be broken anymore, especially our relationships with one another. For now, I know that the saints in heaven enjoy the light of Your presence, and I pray that we, too, may share in the light that they enjoy and in the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Susan, what a beautiful prayer! I pray along with you. Lord Jesus, I pray for my dear Sister, fill her with your joy un-speakable and fill her with Your Glory. You know the loneliness and longing of her heart Lord as she learns to let go of her children and grandchildren and entrust them to You. Help her to have many meaningful visits with them to instill Your Truth and Love in them, gifts that are eternal. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Amen to Lydia’s prayer for dear Susan! I also thought about Elisabeth Elliot’s book on loneliness and how it can be a gift. I need to remember that too. My friend Linda, also a widow, were talking about how when we travel there’s no one to really call — though we know we could call our kids. But God really does want dialogue too.
Thank you, Lydia, for your prayers!
Amen to Lydia’s beautiful prayer for you, Susan. I will pray for you dear sister in Christ.
Tuesday: For Unto Us A Son Is Given
5. Meditate on Isaiah 9:6. Take some time and share your thoughts.
The very phrase “For to us” speaks of the mindfulness of God for us. He planned for “a child” to be born for and given to us! The highest “organization” of the land that seems to dictate our lives, that is the government is under His control. We do not need to fear even when the world around us is falling apart. What is in a name? Am glad that His names are ever the perfect definitions of each, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (the Trinity mentioned here) Hallelujah!
In Tim Keller’s podcast, he begins not with Wonderful, but with Counselor, which he says means wisdom. Listen from the beginning to the break at 15:30.
6. What does Keller say the term counselor embraces?
Counselor means God is the source of all wisdom.
7. Share one time when this Counselor gave wisdom that really helped you find your way.
When I started teaching part-time this year at a start-up private institute for a health science program, I asked for the school to purchase two books for our 4 students as my text for Anatomy and Physiology and Medical Terminology. After a few weeks of some confusion and stress with my students, my frustration level was higher than normal. I sat down and prayed for wisdom and counsel from God. “Lord, this is not working. I need your help to guide me.” Revamping what I had prepared for the semester meant throwing away what I thought was a labor of love and much thought. It meant not using one of the books as the text but just as a resource. It also meant giving an explanation to the students why we are modifying instructional resources. Yet, I knew the changes need to be done. I have asked God for wisdom and counsel, and I believed He gave them to me plus some precious lessons on humility and a willingness to change for the good of everyone. I am very thankful for the results! All glory to God!
8. Keller says the world embraces Christmas seeing it as terribly affirming when it is actually confrontational. What did he mean?
Terribly affirming in the sense of the feel-good stuff about it instead of confrontational in terms of the foolishness of Christmas to the world.
9. What was his point about being a young father working upstairs with 3 boys playing downstairs?
He had to come down to break up the fighting among his three kids. They couldn’t solve their own problems. God came down because we cannot solve our own problems despite the prophets and sages and consultants of the world.
10. How is Christ’s birth a paradigm for how the world thinks of power? How do you see this repeatedly in Scripture? (Give an example).
The world scoffs at a Savior being born in a manger. He should be in a palace. The mother of Jesus, Mary, was a lowly girl. Ultimately the cross is not what we think of as power. The 12 disciples were ordinary people.
11. Liberal churches do not take the Christmas account literally but reinterpret them. How does Keller show the silliness of this?
Liberal churches look at Christmas as an “it just warms my heart” idea. Reinterpreting Christmas as “God uses little people” like Mary but does not believe in the virgin birth and God coming in flesh.
Bing — now I’m curious as to the wisdom the Wonderful Counselor gave you!
5. Meditate on Isaiah 9:6. Take some time and share your thoughts.
The Light that will come upon the world will come as a child, a sign of Humility; The Everlasting Father comes as a Son that will be given to us; As John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son..” The government shall rest on His shoulders; Matthew 5: 34-35 Refers to heaven as the Throne of God and earth is the footstool of His feet, and Jerusalem, the City of the Great King~ inferring that God rules from His Heavenly throne with Christ seated at His right hand. References to the trinity. His name: Wonderful Counselor: Wisdom. Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Many hints of the Trinity.
In Tim Keller’s podcast, he begins not with Wonderful, but with Counselor, which he says means wisdom. Listen from the beginning to the break at 15:30.
6. What does Keller say the term counselor embraces?
Wisdom, Counsel and Wonder
7. Share one time when this Counselor gave wisdom that really helped you find your way.
We am relying on God’s wisdom daily, as we navigate handling my husband’s fragile and failing health. I have so many opinions from well meaning physicians and our grown children, yet I daily need the guidance of our Heavenly Counselor. Being kind, gentle and respectful is so important to the one who needs help and those offering help. It is a new learning curve, where I need to pray and then I need to listen.
8. Keller says the world embraces Christmas seeing it as terribly affirming when it is actually confrontational. What did he mean?
The reason for Christmas is that the world’s wisdom has failed. This wisdom of the world is that we are in control ( and we like control) and we can handle our own problems. Christmas means that the wisdom of this world is foolishness and in Jesus Christ, we have true wisdom. God in a manger, becoming a poor carpenter; this God dying on a Cross, sacrificing for us, Resurrected, Ascended and at the right hand of God in heaven.
9. What was his point about being a young father working upstairs with 3 boys playing downstairs?
He had to show up in person to solve the children’s squabbling. God had to come down to earth, Himself, to solve the world’s problems. Only the Incarnation, the presence of God Himself could save us.
10. How is Christ’s birth a paradigm for how the world thinks of power? How do you see this repeatedly in Scripture? (Give an example).
Christ was born to a quiet, un assuming Virgin girl. He was born in a dirty, mucky manger stall, He became a carpenter, dying the death of of sinner on the cross for us. He came for the poor, the wretched and the lowly. He was a Prince and a King, yet the world could not recognize Him. They were expecting a flashy, wealthy Prince on a white horse.
11. Liberal churches do not take the Christmas account literally but reinterpret them. How does Keller show the silliness of this?
Some pastors reinterpret the Christmas story to make it fit into the values and wisdom of this world. Christmas is an affront to the world’s idea of power. Yet, God makes the impossible, possible. Christmas shatters the paradigm of worldly wisdom. Luke 1:37 “For Nothing shall be Impossible with God.
12. List the three things that worldly wisdom cannot do.
Worldly wisdom cannot give you Wisdom, Peace or Forgiveness.
13. How is God helping you face your own death with assurance and joy? Be specific. Use Scripture if possible.
For Christians, death is a transition from this earthly body to our spirit being with the Lord. We will have new bodies on the day of His return. John 11:26 “And everyone who lives and believe in me shall never die.” John3:16 : ” For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
14. How is God helping you make peace with your past? Again: specific and scripture.
I concentrate on living one day at a time, for today only. I pray for forgiveness for my past sins, those I am aware of and those I am unaware of. I ask God’s forgiveness and focus on today being a new day. Today is a gift that I hope to open and live for the Lord. It is so easy to go on rabbit trails, either back in time or forward in time ~ which is truly a waste of time. Time is one of the best gifts we have been given and I pray I can use it to glorify our Father.
Philippians 4:7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.
15. How is God helping you forgive your enemies? Again: specific and scripture.
I pray that my heart will be softened towards the misdeeds of others, as I know I have so many of my own. I pray that I will not cause harm by sinning against another in thought, word or deed. I pray that I am quick to forgive and quick to repair the relationship, which includes never bringing up someone’s past sins or failures. I have been forgiven so much, who am I not to forgive another.
Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Luke 11: 4 “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. ”
Luke 6:37 ” Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
It is a huge job to sort out medical opinions, esp. when they vary! I do pray He will show you clearly!
Thank you, Dee! God is always good and I am praying to be a good advocate. I am so very thankful for you and for this lovely Advent study. You are blessing so many, Thank you dear Dee.
16. Choose one of the above names and really meditate on it and share what it means to you.
17. Listen to the second half of Keller’s podcast:
A. What did Jonathan Edwards say about mature Christians?
Christians, who have experienced God’s grace and want God for Himself, people who are not making God a means to other ends, but and end in Himself, love to Praise Him.
B. How did C. S. Lewis explain what God tells us to praise Him?
God commands us to Adore Him, Glorify Him and Praise Him. The humblest, most balanced and capacious minds (capable of containing a great deal) Praise the most. (I had to look up capacious) 🙂 We praise what we enjoy, because the praise doesn’t only express, but completes the enjoyment. Heaven is a state in which angels, now, and we hereafter, are perpetually employed in Praising God. We will be perfectly in love with God. When God commands us to Glorify Him, He is inviting us to enjoy Him in a complete way. In Heaven, Joy will be inseparable from Praise.
C. “Praise is inner health made audible.” With this as a guideline, how healthy is your soul?
God wants us to Praise Him, because He wants us to have the joy that He has! I think Praise is something (example: The Northwest Boys Choir at Christmas or The God Who sees music by Nicole Mullin & Kathie Lee Gifford) that you enjoy so much that you cannot help but share that joy with others! Like Lizzy and her children making ornaments and blankets for children in need and praying over each one that they are giving. The light is incomplete until it is expressed.
D. What else stood out to you and why?
All the beautiful things we enjoy and praise on this earth are the tributaries ~ They lead to God, the Headwaters. When we praise in voluntary Wonder, we will eventually begin to Praise involuntarily. Our focus will be on God: Wonderful Counselor; Mighty God (heroic), Everlasting Father(intimate relationship), Prince of Shalom (peacemaker).
Dee, I’m so confused about the posts! I thought we were still on the last one 😩. I didn’t know you started a new one…ugh. And now I think I missed this whole week. Can you tell me the date this post began? Was it last Sunday or this coming one? Help!
I’m so sorry, Laura. I probably wasn’t clear enough. I know it is confusing to switch from Thursday to Sunday. Thursday works best with Paige, and Sundays for Advent. We’ve had low participation, perhaps because of the change.
But don’t feel behind – -we are spending 4 weeks of Advent Sundays on such one verse: Isaiah 9:6 — four names of Jesus
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace
1. How did you see God at work in your life or world this last Thanksgiving week or weekend?
I posted this on last week’s Sunday posting because I thought that was the God hunt post. So confused about the weeks….
We have ended our travels tonight (finally!) weary and grumpy. We usually have a “buffer” day to rest before we get back to the grind, however last night we stopped by the Sight and Sound theatre with the kids to see their production of “David.” It put us back getting home, because everyone was trying to get home tonight, and a 5 hour drive became 10 hours. As I reflect on the show, I definitely saw God in the lovely voices, the scripture put to music and words, and the amazing construction (as usual) of the set, including Goliath (!) and his 4 brothers (?). The robotics were over 20 feet tall and massive structures. It was fun to see this show when we are studying the Psalms. A scene at the end was David contemplating the heavens! It included a laser type show of the ocean and stars. Magnificent! Thank You Lord for giving us the beauty of earth and the creativity of humans!
Sounds so interesting, Laura!
That sounds like an amazing production, Laura! Amen to the beauty of the earth and the creativity of humans! (I was a bit confused on the switch too, but the readings and Keller’s podcast are so good.)
2. Read Isaiah 9:1-5
A. What promise is given to God’s suffering people here?
A savior will be sent.
B. How long will it be before that Light comes?
? “…in the future…”
C. What else stands out to you from this passage and why?
I love the imagery of the light in the darkness.
3. Read Matthew 4:12-17. How does this fulfill the promise?
Jesus came to Earth!
4. Think about a transitory trouble you recently faced or are facing.
A. How is the Lord of Light helping you with it right now?
He is guiding me by me waiting for the answers.
B. How will it be completely reversed on the Great Day of the New Heaven and New Earth?
I will be free of the persecution.
C. Use this Scripture as a springboard for prayer.
Thank You Lord for sending a Savior to Earth! We are undeserving but thankful. Lord remember my family when You come to Earth again. In Your Holy Name. Amen.
2. Read Isaiah 9:1-5 A. What promise is given to God’s suffering people here?
“There will be no gloom”
B. How long will it be before that Light comes?
All we know is “in the latter time”…”there will be”, it is definite and future
C. What else stands out to you from this passage and why?
“those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,on them has light shone” reminds me of one of my favorites in 1 Peter (2:9) ” But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
3. Read Matthew 4:12-17. How does this fulfill the promise?
Jesus left Nazareth and went to Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, “so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled…the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light”, Jesus is the Light.
4. Think about a transitory trouble you recently faced or are facing.
A. How is the Lord of Light helping you with it right now?
He is reminding me that He is with me. Though sometimes in the darkness we are tempted to ask ‘where are You God?’. It is not Him who hides, but us, just as in the Garden. He sees me. I belong to Him and He will not let me out of His sight. He is pulling me out of hiding, out of the shame, the fear, the hurt, and into His glorious light and promises.
B. How will it be completely reversed on the Great Day of the New Heaven and New Earth?
I think a lot about Heaven, it is so real to me. No more sadness, no more pain. The warmth of His face. Unity among believers, among races.
5. Meditate on Isaiah 9:6. Take some time and share your thoughts.
“For to us”- He is for us, because of us
“a Child is born”-new Life
“a Son is given” – a Gift
“the government shall be upon His shoulder-He is sovereign over all
“Wonderful Counselor”-source of all wisdom
“Mighty God”- source of all power
“Everlasting Father”-the Father who will never leave me
“Prince of Peace” – He gives me peace, calms my anxieties, quiets my fear
6. What does Keller say the term counselor embraces?
Counselor is a source of wisdom.
7. Share one time when this Counselor gave wisdom that really helped you find your way.
Months ago, the Lord showed me that I had allowed words of significant people in my life to weigh heavier than His words about me. I am realizing it is a daily battle to re-train my beliefs about myself. Sometimes it feels like I read His Word and it struggles to permeate through thick layers of insecurity and rejection, it’s almost as if it is too foreign for my heart to understand, but I still know it is true so I am faithfully speaking truth to my soul and know one day that “language” of His love will fully be my native one.
8. Keller says the world embraces Christmas seeing it as terribly affirming when it is actually confrontational. What did he mean?
Christmas has come with new wisdom for the world, because the world’s wisdom has failed.
9. What was his point about being a young father working upstairs with 3 boys playing downstairs?
When the boys would be fighting downstairs, he would “send word down” the stairs to help them stop, advice. But if that didn’t solve the problem, he had to go down “in the flesh”, making his word incarnate, because they couldn’t fix themselves.
9. What was his point about being a young father working upstairs with 3 boys playing downstairs?
When things are going wrong, sometimes the Father has to come down and straighten them out.
12. List the three things that worldly wisdom cannot do.
It can’t help me face death, be confident of my past, or help me forgive my enemies.
13. How is God helping you face your own death with assurance and joy? Be specific. Use Scripture if possible.
I have contemplated this for many years. Firstly, What is the way I should be laid to rest? Should I be cremated? Is that acceptable in God’s eyes? Where in the Bible would I get my answer? Will I be “together” when He comes to Earth again? Should I be embalmed and buried! Someone pointed out to me that Adam came from dust. That was interesting to ponder. I’ve even been thinking about what would be on my tombstone. I love the line in the song “King of Kings,” “In His freedom I am free!” That might make a good one.
Now to the question…I equate death as the “eureka moment” I had when I gave birth. At one point I realized soberly, that it was just me and God, right then in the moment. No one else could do anything to help me. I had to fully rely on Him. Me and Him. It was a beautiful thing. I think death will be that way too. Me and Him. I’m a little afraid, and would be sad to leave the ones I love here, but also trusting that He will take care of me.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””
Joshua 1:9 ESV
“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
Romans 6:5 ESV
14. How is God helping you make peace with your past? Again: specific and scripture.
Oh the past….ugh. I’m not sure how to make peace with the past. It happened. I can’t deny it. I have prayed about different circumstances and asked forgiveness. It is still a stain on my heart. I know it’s there and can’t remove the stain. It makes me sad. The blessing is that I am not that person anymore. I am changed. When I began to study who Jesus was/is, I became different. The past is the past. I am suffering for not having Him in my life as I should have, but He suffered too. He took those sins for me. That is something I have pondered lately too. Contemporary worship music and The Chosen have helped me understand this better. He loves me.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
““Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”
Isaiah 1:18 ESV
15. How is God helping you forgive your enemies? Again: specific and scripture.
I have usually been a forgiving person over the course of my lifetime. For some reason, I mostly find a way, because I know I am not perfect. There are only a couple of cases I can think of where I was unable to forgive completely. One has to do with my niece and my mom. She hurt my mother, so I really struggle there. Another is a neighbor who hurt my 6 year old son by being mean to him. My un-forgiveness seems to be about someone hurting someone else.
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,”
Matthew 6:14 ESV
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:32 ESV
5. Meditate on Isaiah 9:6. Take some time and share your thoughts.
This verse says that unto us a child is born, to us a son is given. This strikes me because when one speaks about the birth of a child, the child belongs to a singular family, he or she is the child of one couple. But this promised child belongs to us all. I recently listened to a podcast in which it was said that in the Bible, barrenness represented hopelessness. Think of all of the biblical women who were barren – Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth, for example. To be barren is to be without hope. The previous verses all spoke of people being in the dark, living in the land of the shadow of death….life without hope, barren. What hope then is proclaimed by the gift of this child which shall be for all of us, for all people. Our spiritual barrenness is reversed by being given this wonderful hope.
6. What does Keller say the term counselor embraces?.
A counselor is a source of wisdom. Because Jesus is God, He is THE source of wisdom.
7. Share one time when this Counselor gave wisdom that really helped you find your way.
While there are times when He gives me the wisdom to keep my mouth shut in a particular moment, there are other times when He nudges me to speak up. A few months ago, I had a patient who was really becoming rather unraveled as he struggled with his current illness. From another caregiver, I learned that he had said things like it was because he didn’t have enough faith or that God must not care. I hesitated to speak to him about this and then my shift ended. However, a couple days later at work, he wasn’t my patient but I answered his call light and asked him how he was doing. Then I said something like you know, there’s something I wanted to say to you the other day but didn’t, but now I’m going to say it. I told him that in our darkest times, God can seem far away and absent, but that being sick or in some other kind of trouble doesn’t meant that God doesn’t love us or that He doesn’t care. I tried to encourage him to keep talking to God. It seemed that he appreciated what I said to him.
8. Keller says the world embraces Christmas seeing it as terribly affirming when it is actually confrontational. What did he mean?
The world sees Christmas as being affirming in the sense that we sentimentalize it, saying that Christmas is about peace and goodwill. However, Keller says that the message of Christmas is incredibly confrontational. It’s confrontational because it says that the world’s wisdom has failed. It would be confrontational to go up to someone and tell them that the way they are doing something is wrong, a total failure, and they need outside help, when all along they believe they’ve got it all under control.
9. What was his point about being a young father working upstairs with 3 boys playing downstairs?
When he was upstairs working and he’d hear the boys not getting along, the first thing he did was to “send his word” down the stairs, as in “Share the toy” or “Take turns!” When that failed to work, the next was a threat, “Don’t make me come down there!” Because the boys couldn’t solve the problem on their own, his word “had to become flesh”, and he had to go downstairs. The message of Christmas is illustrated by this example: The world couldn’t fix its problems by itself, so God had to come down here.
10.How is Christ’s birth a paradigm for how the world thinks of power? How do you see this repeatedly in Scripture? (Give an example)
God in a manger is the total opposite of how the world does power. If a person said that after they were dead and in 2,000 years they wanted everyone in the world to still be making them the center of their lives, the world’s way would be to have an entire strategic plan to accomplish this, including academic, economic, and political power. One example I can think of is David. When Samuel came to size-up the sons of Jesse in his search for God’s chosen one to be the next king, he overlooked David, focusing instead on the older, bigger, and handsomer sons of Jesse. But God kept saying nope….he’s not the one. Finally, Samuel asked is there anyone left? Then someone brought the young shepherd boy David to him, and God said, this is the one.
11. Liberal churches do not take the Christmas account literally but reinterpret them. How does Keller show the silliness of this?
It’s an attempt to reinvent and reinterpret Christmas to fit into the wisdom of this world and to still find meaning in it. Christmas shattered Mary’s paradigm of the world and the wisdom that she knew up until that point. Gabriel told her that nothing is impossible is with God.
12. List the three things that worldly wisdom cannot do.
1. Worldly wisdom (philosophy, science, etc…) cannot help you face death with assurance, confidence, and joy.
2. Worldly wisdom cannot help you have peace in your conscience and live with your past.
3. Worldly wisdom cannot help you forgive your enemies from your heart.
13. How is God helping you face your own death with assurance and joy? Be specific. Use Scripture if possible.
Oh this is hard! I guess the “how” of death as in how I will die is still a bit unsettling to me; I don’t like to think about that. And there are still times when I am confronted with my own sin and I want to run away from God and I think how can He forgive me for this? It is then that I have to speak the truth to my soul and know that that is the whole reason He came, to seek and to save those who KNOW that they are sick and desperately need Him, and that He is more than willing to forgive me and that He still loves me. I think of all the beautiful passages in The Song of Songs in which He reassures us, His Bride, that He sees us as beautiful and without flaw, and that His love is stronger than death and He is jealous for us, and in the tug of war, death will not wrench us from His grasp. And I think of some passages in Job, like the one in which Job says that he knows that one day, God will long for the work of His hands (that’s us) and He will call and we will answer. At times when I read or hear His word being spoken or I ponder the truths that I know and I feel my spirit within me soar with hope, I know that He is real and that He’s got me forever.
14. How is God helping you make peace with your past? Again: specific and scripture.
Does anyone else think about their past in terms of “sins” and “big sins”? In my past, there are two or three sins that stand out as the big ones, the most reprehensible ones, the ones that just can never be altered insofar as their consequences. And for years, those big ones would come up over and over again and I would confess them over and over and yet I still carried the baggage of guilt and shame. When I went on pilgrimage to Holy Island, we walked the Pilgrim’s Way across the seabed to the island, the way the monks way back in the 600’s and 700’s would have walked to the island when the tide was out. I had a very specific intention to pray about as I walked, and it was to lay down that baggage of my past once and for all. I believe that I was never meant to carry the weight of it for the rest of my life and keep lugging it around. I talked to God as I walked and asked Him to take my baggage from me as I could not carry it any more. And, He did.
Also, there’s a little short story by Walter Wangerin Jr. called Ragman that illustrates this beautifully, how Jesus carries our heavy baggage and takes it away.
15. How is God helping you forgive your enemies? Again: specific and scripture.
Okay Dee….you’re really piling it on! Wow. Forgiveness is not easy for me, and yes, I know lots of Scriptures about forgiving as we have been forgiven, not keeping a record of wrong. Often for me, it’s the hundreds of “paper cuts” inflicted by a certain person that I find hard to forgive. I withdraw, I can react with stony silence. I feel justified to have my resentment. As I think about this, it wasn’t too long ago that I was praying and asking God why it is so hard for me to love a certain person, and an answer came into my mind and it was about because I don’t look at this person as if they have an eternal soul. I tried to conveniently forget about that. But if each person has an eternal soul, and they do, that’s something worth pondering then as to how we/I forgive and treat them.
So good, Susan. Yet I know, so hard. Keller’s book on Forgiveness is so good.
16. Choose one of the above names and really meditate on it and share what it means to you.
I like how Keller explained that Mighty God means that He is a Hero, a Champion, a Knight in Shining Armor. I sure do need a hero, but not a fallen human being who can disappoint and can’t really be relied upon. I love thinking about God being like a knight.
17. Listen to the second half of Keller’s podcast:
A. What did Jonathan Edwards say about mature Christians?
Everyone petitions God, but only mature Christians love to praise because they want God for Himself, not to use Him as a means to an end.
B. How did C.S. Lewis explain why God tells us to praise Him?
We cannot fully enjoy God until and unless we praise Him. Our joy in Him is not complete until we express our praise of Him. When God commands us to praise and glorify Him, He is inviting us to enjoy Him. He wants us to have the joy that He has. He doesn’t “need” our praise. Praising Him is for our benefit.
C. “Praise is inner health made audible.” With this as a guideline, how healthy is your soul?
Well, I often praise God in response to something I see, as in a beautiful place in nature. When I was on LIndisfarne, I remember walking one morning and just looking around me and tears coming to my eyes because it was so so beautiful; it was like I could hardly stand it. And it led me to praise Him. I could spend more time though just praising God for His attributes, character, etc…
When I get into a complaining, griping mode, my soul is not healthy.
D. What else stood out to you and why?
The key to making the truths of Christmas “operative” (I think Keller means to incorporate them into the way I live) is WONDER. It’s so easy to become “jaded” in this world, to be so busy and harassed that I forget to stop and wonder at something. Keller said that wonder is involuntary praise.