December 15, 2024
You can find the order of worship and songs here.
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Sometimes the Old Testament prophets seem overly optimistic. For example, in Isaiah 11:1–9 the prophet Isaiah looks forward to the coming of the Messiah (“a shoot from the stump of Jesse”), and says “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat…The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.” The difficulty, of course, is that the Messiah did come, and yet the leopard still hunts the young goat and no parent in their right mind would let a nursing child go anywhere near a cobra. Against the realities of our present day, Isaiah’s words sound both impractical and implausible. So what is going on?
We are creatures bound by time, and necessarily experience God’s redemptive work unfolding in successive moments. But when the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah speak of the future and the power of Christ’s kingdom, they have the advantage of seeing God’s work not as a progression in time, but as a completed reality. We only see God’s work in snippets. Isaiah saw the consummation of Christ’s kingdom and the total renewal of the created order. The problem is not that Isaiah was overly optimistic. The problem is that we only see darkly and partly.
Isaiah was well-aware of this very human problem of losing faith, courage, and hope because we cannot see all that God is doing. So Isaiah encourages us in 12:1–6. “You will say in that day…“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation…”” We live in the present, but we are not confined to the present. By faith we behold God’s completed work. For now the days are hard and sometimes we even groan and weep. But we know the day is drawing near. And on that day we will also say, “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitants of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
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Growth Resources
This year: Please see the full list of 2024 books as well as Bible reading plans on our church webpage.
This month: We are reading “Orthodoxy” by G.K. Chesterton.
Upcoming Events and Notices
Wednesday evening study and Sunday school lessons will resume in January.
We have sent the following gifts: Servant Church $2,475; The Stoddards (MTW) $2,000; Geneva Benefits $1,000. Please take a look at the Servant Church's year-end thank you video. We encourage you to also read Stoddard Ministry December 2024 update.
December 15 (Lord's Day): Please join us for Christmas celebration and feast after the worship service.
Thank you for your continued support of Grace Fallbrook (PCA). Your loving support makes the proclamation of the gospel and the building up of the saints possible. Please visit gracefallbrook.church/give and click on "Give Online Now." You will be directed to the PCA Foundation where you can give towards Grace Fallbrook (PCA).