Christ incarnate, humbled and crucified, is both the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).
The Dawn of Redeeming Grace: Daily Devotions for Advent
by Sinclair B. Ferguson
You may be thinking: “Jon, you missed it! It was two days ago!”
Well, First of all, I assume you got way too many letters, notes and Christmas wishes from missionaries, stores and friends and family. But today is fair game!
Secondly, In Italy, Christmas goes until the 6th (hence the 12 days of Christmas).
As we prepare for a new year, our desire is to be better connected to you , so that through your prayers and encouragement we will do even better than last year in sharing the Good News.
My last sermon before the Christmas season was by God’s grace from Matthew 9:35-38, where Jesus came, saw and had compassion on the crowds, then called his disciples to pray for God to send workers.
Interesting how that works out almost perfectly to the famous words spoken by Julius Caesar: “VENI, VIDI, VICI”.
But now a much greater ruler has come!
The True King has COME, the TRUE KING has SEEN us in our spiritual affliction, and The True King has CONQUERED.
And you and I are part of that conquering!
The conquered are sent by the King to conquer for Him!
Here are three ways you can pray for us in the next month:
Outreach – Pray for the many contacts we are having with people through music and Bible calendar distributions this Christmas season. One of the band directors, Franco, even came to church a few weeks ago!
Preaching – I will start back up preaching in the new year with Matthew 10, where Jesus sends out his disciples for the first time!
Equipping – On January 16th I will be called on to teach my very first lessons at Seminario Biblico Umbro, a new local seminary that my dear missionary friend Tom Boehm in Deruta has had the vision to begin. We already have several students signed up, even from our church! SOLI DEO GLORIA!
We are truly and enormously blessed by the fact that you would make time to open this letter, maybe even respond, pray, and for many of you, give so generously so that we can serve God and the Italian people here in central Italy.
You truly are a gift this Christmas season!
PS. Happy Birthday Noah! Today he turns fifteen!
