As we begin this Advent season preparing for Christmas, the plan is to look at five Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ.

This week we look at Jacob’s blessing of his son Judah (sometime around 2000 B.C.), foretelling that God would raise up kings in the tribe of Judah, until all people have been gathered before one king of Judah.

The Text: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen. 49:8-12).

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

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In the first century just after Jesus ascended into heaven, the unbelieving Jews murdered Stephen, and Saul of Tarsus was breathing threats against the Christians in every city. The temptation to go dark was great. The Christians were hated, lied about, and mistreated. It would have felt very justified to bitterly hate those Jewish zealots (and their Roman collaborators), and to have done so would be to join their carnal, devilish ways.

But God has determined to conquer this dark world with His grace. That means mercy for the wicked. God justifies the ungodly. God’s plan was to save the leader of that violence and evil. True grace has a backbone, but it is a radical, humiliating grace. This is the wisdom of God and the ground of all Christian gratitude.

The Text: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain…” (Js. 4:1-10)

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

We live in the ruins of a great civilization that was built in many ways by faithful men and women, who kept their marriage vows. Nevertheless in fallen world, sin will wreak havoc, and we need to know what to do when sin happens. The fundamental duty is confession of sin and forgiveness, but marriage is a public covenant and therefore sometimes there are public ramifications for certain sins.

The Text: “The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?...” (Mt. 19:3-9)

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

In Colonial America it was common for sermons to be preached around elections reminding God’s people of the biblical duties of magistrates, citizens, and the biblical blueprint for civil government.

Today’s message is focused on the duty of citizens to be a certain kind of people, and for men in particular to practice being dangerously good.

The Text: “… Then said he unto them, ‘But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one…” (Lk. 22:35-38)

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

After salvation, the choice of who you marry will likely be the next most significant decision in your life. Marriage is a nuclear reactor – where new immortal souls are being brought into existence, and therefore it is good and right to guard its formation carefully.

This law concerning vows applies in a number of different directions, but since marriage includes covenant vows, it certainly applies there.

The Text: “…If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth; And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand…” (Num. 30:1-5).

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

God, in His infinite wisdom, made men and women different. These differences inform our roles and duties, especially in marriage, where they complement each other. Scripture clearly teaches that wives are to submit to their husbands (Eph. 5:22, Col. 3:18). This call to submission is not demeaning or oppressive, but is a genuine glory and a necessary part of a thriving marriage and family. 

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

Liberty is not the freedom to do whatever you want. Humanistic lusts always end in tyranny, slavery, and destruction. Liberty is the freedom to obey God, to live according to His law under His blessing. Liberty is doing what you were made for.

Therefore, the foundational governments that God has established of family, church, and state are the foundational checks and balances that limit human tyranny and truly set men free.

The Text: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation” (Rom. 13:1-2).

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

While we reject all “health and wealth gospels,” as though Jesus were a mechanical vending machine for worldly wealth and power, we fully affirm the personal and covenantal nature of the world, which includes blessings and curses both in this life and in the life to come (Mk. 10:29-30).

Sometimes God sends hardships to His people for their sanctification, and those hardships are working for us an “exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17). Sometimes He gives the wicked great wealth, yet without His blessing, they do not have ability to truly enjoy it (Eccl. 5:19-6:3). However, sometimes God’s people turn to idols and become debt slaves and are taken out of the fight, but we are called to freedom and dominion.

The Text: “…The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them. And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” (Dt. 28:1-14).

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

Many Christians say they prefer smaller churches, and in God’s providence, there are many smaller, thriving churches. But it’s worth checking your preferences against God’s word. Are your preferences aligned with biblical priorities? Or are you making your preferences into biblical priorities?

Our church and community have grown significantly over the last few years, and while it is understandable to miss seeing certain friends, we want to make sure that we are processing this growth like believing Christians. So this is a message on big church blessings.

The Texts: “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:5-6)

“For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:39-41).

“After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9-10).

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.