I’m still working day and night on a book based on our Ten-Square sermon series at TDF, and covet your prayers for that.  I’d hoped to have it finished by year’s end, but I’m going to need a couple of extra weeks.  But pray for skill in writing and success in impact.

In the meantime, there were a couple of encouraging articles in the news today, and as the old year ends we need every encouraging article we can find.

University of Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton has become a Christian.  In today’s Baptist Press, we learn that the UT team chaplain led Crompton to Christ on August 25.  He baptized him at Sevier Heights Baptist Church in November, and meets with him each week for discipleship training.  Crompton said:

I’m more fulfilled.  It’s made it a lot easier for me on and off the field.  I don’t have to do all the work.  It’s all on Him.  This season has been different in a good way….

It’s amazing.  Jesus has given His life.  He was kind enough to forgive us of our sins.  No one is perfect.  I want to keep moving forward and to get stronger every day in my walk with Him.

The whole article is here.

The other great story is in the Christian Post.  Two million people in Tanzania now have access for the first time to the story of Christ’s birth in their own language.  Wycliffe Bible Translators finished their work on the Christmas story from Luke’s Gospel for nine language groups in the Mara region of northwest Tanzania.  For more on this story, click here.

May 2010 bring many more stories of advance for the Kingdom, one by one, tribe by tribe.

Happy New Year

Here’s an outline for today’s sermon at TDF.  In Revelation 21 and 22, the Apostle John tells us, giving us a guided tour of the New Heavens, the New Earth, and the city of New Jerusalem.  I think of Revelation 21 and 22 as a travel brochure. 

Introduction:  Overview of Eternity (Revelation 21:1-8):  New Heavens, a New Earth, a New City, a New Order.

1. The New Jerusalem:  From a Distance (Revelation 21:9-11):  John sees this Diamond-City Descending to the Earth
2. The New Jerusalem:  Up Close (Revelation 21:12-14):  The city comes closer as it descends, and John is able to make out its features, especially its walls and gates.
3. The New Jerusalem:  Its Size (Revelation 21:15-17):  It’s about 1400 hundred miles in all directions.  There’s never been a city that large, about the size of eastern half of the United States.
4. The New Jerusalem:  Its Building Materials (Revelation 21:18-21):  Lots of crystal, diamond, glass, and pearl.
5. The New Jerusalem: Its Interior (Revelation 21:22-23):  Now John is actually inside the city, and he describes what’s there and what’s not there.
6. The New Jerusalem:  Its Commerce (Revelation 21:24-27:  The New Earth is going to be a productive world; and the New Jerusalem is going to be a financial and commercial capital. 
7. The New Jerusalem:  Its City Center (Revelation 22:1-2):  At the center of this city will be a vast square, the eternal abiding place of the throne of God.  Surrounding this square will be great crowds of worshippers, human and angelic, coming and going, and this will provide the heartbeat and the pulse of the universe.  From this square will flow the great Crystal River, alongside the great central street of gold, which will be the main boulevard that runs through the city.  And alongside the river and the street will be Tree of Life Park.
8. The New Jerusalem:  Its Inhabitants (Revelation 22:3-5):  Who will be included in the population and what we’ll be doing forever. 

Conclusion:  He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”  Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

PS – For my entire sermon from Revelation 21-22, click here.

Tomorrow at The Donelson Fellowship concludes our year-long series of messages on Ten-Square:  100 Verses that Everyone on Earth Should Know by Heart.  Our closing verses are from Revelation 21-22 on heaven.  These chapters are written expressly to give us an on-going sense of anticipation. 

In his book, Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert tells of one study in which volunteers were told they had won a free dinner at a fabulous French restaurant and were then asked when they would like to eat there.  Now?  Tonight?  Tomorrow?  The meal was at any time, but most of the volunteers put off the dinner for a week or so.  Researchers discovered that in doing so, the participants not only enjoyed the meal, but that had a full seven days of looking forward to it.  As one man put it, “Forestalling pleasure is an inventive technique for getting double the juice from half the fruit.”

 Having a sense of anticipation means we’re excited about the future, that we’re forward looking, and that we are looking forward.  It’s a sign of health and well-being in our emotions and in our spirituality.

 The dictionary defines anticipation as pleasurable expectation.  Well, this Bible has a special name for this attitude.  It calls it: HOPE.  In the Bible, hope is certainty-centered, not probability-based, and the Scripture calls this – our blessed hope.

 But it is reserved for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, for those who have been washed and saved and forgiven and cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on Calvary.

 PS – For the full text of this study of Revelation 21-22, click here.

If you’re in the Nashville area, please join us for tonight’s Christmas Eve service at 6 p.m.  In the glow of candlelight, we’ll be singing carols, observing the Lord’s supper, sharing Luke 2, and we’ll have an original short story I’ve written for the occasion, entitld “Ollie.”  Here’s how it begins:

 I am going to tell you a story just as my father told it to me, for I can still remember it almost word for word as he related it on Christmas Eve of 1963.  We had finished dinner, opened some presents, and put on our pajamas.  Just before bedtime, as the last log was burning in the fireplace, I saw my dad walk over to the mantel, take down the antique snow globe with its small nativity scene, and turn the crank on the bottom.  The little music box played “Silent Night” as the snow swirled around Joseph, Mary, and the baby in the manger.  My dad was lost in thought until the music ceased, then he turned and saw me watching him.  I guess I looked at him quizzically, because he went on to recite a little poem I’d never heard before, as though he were explaining something to me.

Silent, holy, calm, and bright,
Jesus came to pierce the night,
Jesus came to make things right,
 So be…
Silent, holy, calm and bright,
 …tonight.

 I didn’t know what to make of it, so I did what most twelve-year-old fellows would do.  I asked questions.  “What do’ya mean, dad?  Where’d you get that old globe, anyhow?  Where’d it come from?”  Well, he sat right down in the floor, there in front of the fireplace with the snow globe resting in his lap, and he motioned for me.  I sat down beside him and he turned the thing over and showed me what was stamped on the bottom:  Made is Germany, 1939.  Then he put his arm around me and this is what he said….

I’ve been writing day and night, trying to finish a book on the 100 verses that everyone on earth should know by heart.  As you think of it, I’d appreciate your prayers for this project.  It requires working right through Christmas and to the New Year.  I hope it’ll be worth it in terms of advancing the cause of Scripture memory.  So I’ve been on a little hiatus from my online journal.  I don’t like to stay on hiatus very long, so here’s a story I told in a Christmas sermon eight or nine years ago.  It’s a true story, and I hope it’ll make your Christmas a little more Merry!

Years ago a little restaurant in Nice, on the French Riviera, was shoddily decorated for Christmas.  The weather was bad—cold and rainy—and on Christmas Eve only five tables were occupied. There were two German families, two French families, and an American sailor who was sitting alone at a table, writing a letter.  (It’s suitable for framing in a sermon, Christmas Eve service, or other venue).

The sailor was smiling to himself, but everyone else in the restaurant was depressed and irritable.  One of German families was clearly in the middle of a squabble.  Across the room, the French father slapped one of his children, and the boy cried.  Another family was in the middle of a vacation in which everything had gone wrong.  In the corner, a piano player was listlessly hitting the keys.  It was, all in all, a miserable scene.

Suddenly the door opened, sending a blast of cold air into the room.  In came the old French flower woman, wearing a tattered and dripping overcoat.  She started from table to table, trying to sell her roses, but nobody was interested.  Wearily she sat down at an empty table and the waiter approached her.  She said, “Nothing but a bowl of soup.  I haven’t sold a single flower all afternoon.”  Looking over at the piano player, she said, “Can you imagine, Joseph, ordering nothing but a bowl of soup on Christmas Eve.”  In reply, Joseph merely pointed to the little plate where people donated tips for his playing.  It was empty.

Meanwhile, the young sailor finished his meal, stood up, and put on his overcoat.  As he prepared to leave, he walked over to the old woman and picked up two roses.  “Merry Christmas,” he said.  “How much are these?” 

“Two francs, Monsieur.”

He pressed one of the flowers into the letter he had just written, then took out a twenty-franc note.  “I’ll have to get some change, Monsieur,” said the old woman.

“No ma’am,” said the sailor, bending over and kissing her on the cheek.  “This is my Christmas present to you.”  He then went over to one of the other tables and gave the other rose to the distraught wife.”

“Merry Christ,” he said.  Then he turned, flashed a warm smile, and left.

No one moved for twenty seconds.  Suddenly the old flower woman jumped up waving the 20-frank note.  Hobbling out into the middle of the room, she danced a jig and, looking at the piano player, said, “Joseph, you and I will have a feast tonight.”

Joseph’s fingers hit the keys and he started beating out “Good King Wenceslas.”  Soon everyone in the room was singing, and the Germans even got up and stood on their chairs, clapping.  One Christmas carol followed another, and people crowded in from the street until the restaurant was packed with people, weeping and singing the carols of Christmas.

You might say that Christmas just exploded in that drab little restaurant.  It was the American sailor’s gift that night.  He lit up the room.  That’s what Christ did for the whole world!  The Bible teaches that this world is a drab and miserable place, filled with fighting and squabbling.  But Jesus came, offering us His indescribable gift.  He came with the Gospel.  He came with Good News about God and Heaven and Eternal Life.  And His presence makes all the difference.  It lights up this world and it lights up our lives.

I’ve been unable to update my on-line journal recently, and it might be two or three weeks until things return to normal.  The primary culprit is the looming deadline for the Ten-Square Book.  It’s a massive project due at the end of the month, and complicated by weekly sermons, Christmas musicals, magazine assignments, funerals, weddings, and all the other vital moments of life.

But thank God I’m not bored.

I’ve been slammed this week with board meetings, deadlines, and church obligations; so I’ve not had much time for on-line journaling.  But I did want to share my closing story from today’s sermon.  I think it’s a great illustration of the Lordship of Christ.  We can only have one Client, one Boss, one Master, one Lord to whom we owe our lives. 

Ronald Kessler is a Washington journalist who recently authored a best-selling book on the Secret Service and its mission of protecting the President of the United States.  Kessler reported on the elaborate and extensive preparation that goes on before even the simplest presidential visit. 

One evening, when George and Laura Bush were in the White House, they decided to accept a dinner invitation at the home of Clay and Anne Johnson.  Clay was a close friend from high school.  One of Bush’s buddies from Yale University was also planning to attend, along with the FBI director and his wife.  The Johnsons lived in Spring Valley, a neighborhood in Washington.  The Secret Service set up a command post in the basement.  They asked that the drapes be installed in the dining room, and they even suggested which chair the President should sit in for the quickest emergency rescue, should that be necessary.  The Secret Service also asked the Johnsons to clear out a closet that was big enough for at least two people.  One of the agents told Anne Johnson, “In case of an emergency, an agent was going to grab the president, and the two of them were going to dive (into the closet).

 Anne Johnson asked the agent, “What should everyone else do in case of an emergency?”

 The agent looked at her and replied, “I only have one client:  the President.” ¹

We only have one Lord, only one to whom we owe our lives, only one to whom we have pledged our love and our loyalty—and that’s Jesus Christ.

From the writings of missionary pioneer Mary Slessor:

My life is one long daily, hourly record of answered prayer.  For physical health, for mental overstrain, for guidance given marvelously, for errors and dangers averted, for enmity to the Gospel subdued, for food provided at the exact hour needed, for everything that goes to make up life and my poor service.  I can testify, with a full and often wonder-stricken awe, that I believe God answers prayer.  I know God answers prayer.

In olden times in England, when metical versions of the Psalms were sung instead of hymns, it took congregations quite a while to sing all the way through Psalm 119, the longest of the Psalms and the longest chapter of the Bible (it’s longer than some books of the Bible).

The famous 18th century preacher, William Grimshaw of Haworth, would sometimes announce the singing of Psalm 119, while he left the building and walk through the village looking for truant worshippers.  He had plenty of time to round up the slackers and herd them into church before the Psalm was over; and then he would preach to them.  It was said that absentees were more frightened of Rev. Grimshaw than of the Justice of the Peace. ¹

I wonder how that would go over now?

Sunday at TDF is the beginning of our Christmas series of sermons, Alpha & Omega, on the first and second comings of Christ.  My message for this coming Sunday refers to John 14:27, when Jesus told the disciples in the Upper Room:  “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you.  Not as the world gives, give I unto you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

In that text, Jesus was bestowing on us His legacy.  He was leaving us something in His last will and testament.
 
Dr. A. B. Simpson said:  “So precious indeed is peace that it was the one legacy left us by our departing Lord.  ‘Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you…’”

Think of it like this.  When He died, Jesus left his garments to the soldiers, His money to Judas, His mother to the apostle John, His blood to the earth, His body to the tomb.  But He consigned His peace to us.  It’s our privilege to have the Prince of Peace ruling and reigning in our hearts.

So join us Sunday at 8:45 and 10:15 as we talk about this more.