Author Archives: salooper57

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About salooper57

Husband, father, pastor, follower. I am a disciple of Jesus, learning how to do life from him. I read, write, walk, play a little guitar, enjoy my family.

Saving Grace: Christmas on Main Street

Posted on December 25, 2021 by salooper57

This brief message examines what the grace of God looks like – grace that was once wrapped in swaddling and laid in a manger. On this Christmas day, may God grant you: presents under your tree, family around your table, … Continue reading →

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Christmas and the God of Surprises

Posted on December 25, 2021 by salooper57

Christmas is proof that God loves surprises. According to the prophet Isaiah, God had promised to bring light to people living in darkness, joy to replace sorrow, and freedom from the burden of oppression. He would do this by sending someone to rule with justice and spread peace everywhere. What is surprising about that? That the someone he was sending would be a baby. Continue reading →

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Wide Angle: Christmas, in God’s Time, in God’s Way

Posted on December 24, 2021 by salooper57

It’s time to zoom out and consider the Christmas story from a wide-angle viewpoint. After four hundred years of radio silence, heaven re-established contact and sent messengers (that is the meaning of the Greek word we translate as “angel”) to … Continue reading →

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Wide Angle: Operation Bethlehem

Posted on December 23, 2021 by salooper57

If you remove the Christmas story from the larger narrative that surrounds it, from the promises of God to rescue and renew his people, you still have a nice story but you may just miss the point. This little child … Continue reading →

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Christmas Through the Wide Angle: The Line Becomes the Point of it All

Posted on December 22, 2021 by salooper57

If you remove the Christmas story from this larger narrative, from the promises of God to rescue and renew his people, you still have a nice story, but you may just miss the point. This little child is the fulfillment of the great promises. He is the king. Bethlehem is not just an inhospitable town; it is an invasion site. Bethlehem ought to be listed with Thermopylae, Troy, Normandy, and Omaha Beach. With the coming of this child the forces of the eternal kingdom have arrived, and the deciding campaign of the Long War has begun. Continue reading →

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Wide Angle: Christmas Broke the Silence

Posted on December 20, 2021 by salooper57

I was flying from Dakar, Senegal, West Africa to Paris. I left Dakar about 11:00 at night, and within minutes the ground below us grew very dark.  We were flying over Mauritania, Western Sahara, and Morocco, where towns and villages … Continue reading →

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Right on Time: A Message for Christmas

Posted on December 19, 2021 by salooper57

If God let his promise to them fail, might not his promises to us be annulled? If his anger smoldered against them, might it not smolder against us? If they waited too long, might we not wait too long?

But they did not wait too long. They didn’t wait long enough. Some of them didn’t wait at all. Instead of trusting God, they took matters into their own hands. They gave up on God, but God did not give up on himself or his promises. Continue reading →

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Faith in the Future: Christmas as a Symbol of Hope

Posted on December 18, 2021 by salooper57

d the Corp of Engineers to dam a river, and that meant evacuating a small town that would be permanently flooded. It took years of hearings and tons of paperwork before the plan finally went into effect. Eventually, the state purchased the property from the town, and gave people ample time to find other places to live.

As soon as the decision was finalized, a fascinating thing began to happen. The once beautiful town fell into disrepair. When things stopped working, machines failed, or windows broke, the people of the town just let them go. One of the residents said, “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no work in the present.” Continue reading →

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Wide Angle: We Stopped Trusting Too Soon

Posted on December 17, 2021 by salooper57

hrone of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” Remember that he was born in, of all places, Bethlehem, the town of David.  The prophet had hundreds of years earlier said, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel.” Continue reading →

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Wide Angle: When the Line Vanished

Posted on December 15, 2021 by salooper57

That promise was recorded and published, and it left an indelible impression on the minds of the house of Israel. And I say “the house of Israel” again because it was only a few hundred years after David that the “kingdom of Israel” was a kingdom no more. The kingdom was shattered from within, and then crushed from without. David’s descendants were sent into exile. The royal line vanished in a faraway land.

wind. They had lost the promised land and the promised king in one blow. And where was God while all this was happening? That’s what the psalmist wanted to know. Continue reading →

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