The book of Acts has often been called “The Acts of the Apostles,” which is certainly what the book describes, primarily beginning with Peter in Jerusalem and then following Paul’s missionary journeys all the way to where the book ends in Rome. But many commentators have pointed out that it is particularly the Holy Spirit who empowers and drives the ministry of the Apostles, and so others have suggested a revised title “The Acts of the Holy Spirit,” which is also good and helpful. But if we read the first sentence of Acts, Luke seems to have yet another layer in mind: these are the Acts and Words of Jesus continued.

The opening line of Acts also highlights the nature of the book: it’s a book of action and words, adventures and messages: from jailbreaks to shipwrecks to sermons, miracles, baptisms in the middle of the night, mobs, beatings, and conspiracies, it ranks among the most fast-paced adventure stories of the Bible. And Luke is teaching us that these adventures are what Jesus does through His Spirit, working through His people.

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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When Christ is made manifest to the world, He is either worshiped and adored, or hated and reviled. To some He is the aroma of life leading to life, and to others He is the aroma of death leading to death (2 Cor. 2:16).

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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The Bible says that a man who doesn’t sin with his words is perfect and has tamed something wilder than beasts and serpents (Js. 3:2-8). If this is the case ordinarily, how much more so are we up against it in a world that has embraced profanity, perversion, lies, and violent words and has the technological ability to send and multiply them exponentially around the world?

But this is one of the marks of a new heart in Christ. No man can tame the tongue (Js. 3:8), and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Lk. 6:45). Therefore, only a new heart from God can turn the tongue into a well of blessing, and when He does, it is exponential blessing.

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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As the Christian foundations of our society continue to crumble, animosity is the inevitable result, because in this New World that Christ rules, there is no other integration point, no other peace, no other fellowship. It is literally Christ or nothing. But this doesn’t stop rebellious men in their pride from forging false integration points, politically, culturally, or racially, but since they are all idolatrous rivals to Christ, they will only succeed in deforming men, inciting malice and envy (Ps. 115:8). Our presbytery recently adopted the following statements in order to address our current situation, proposing them to the full CREC to be adopted as memorials.

On Ethnic Balance: We believe the human tendency to congregate around shared affections is natural and can be good—it creates the blessing of cultures and subcultures, for example. But as with all natural goods in a fallen world, there is a temptation to exalt it to a position of unbiblical importance, thus making it an idol. While an ethnic heritage is something to be grateful for, and which may be preserved in any way consistent with the law of God, it is important to reject every form of identity politics, including kinism—whether malicious, vainglorious, or ideologically separatist/segregationist.

On Anti-Semitism: We believe the conversion of the Jews is key to the success of Christ’s Great Commission, and it is incumbent upon us to pray and labor toward that end. While, apart from Christ, the Jews are as all others––alienated from God—they have remained an object of God’s care because the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. God’s plan for converting them is for them to see Gentile nations under the blessings of Christ’s lordship, thus leading them to long for the same. Hence, the cancerous sin of anti-Semitism has no place in God’s plan.

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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Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the great Dragon-slayer, and in Him, the birth of a race of dragon slayers. So lift up your heads. Lift up your hearts. Christ is born. The Seed of the Woman has come. The dragon has been mortally wounded, and you have been set free. So take up your arms. Confess your sins. Forgive one another. Rejoice and sing and celebrate. This your testimony, and by this testimony you overcome the dragon.

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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The Song of Songs is both a love song between Solomon and his wife, as well as an allegory of the love of God for Israel, prefiguring the incarnate love of Christ for His Bride, the Church.

When the Word became flesh, He “tabernacled” among us, dwelling with us like a faithful bridegroom, come for His faithless bride. When He came, He came to build a new house, the Church, which turns out is a feasting hall, but this is the kind of festival that organizes the participants into platoons and regiments. The love of God establishes the armies of God.

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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The first Christmas was extravagant. God did not merely send angels and dreams and give barren women birth. He did not merely involve the stars and stir up the Roman Emperor to perform a census. He not only involved magi from the East, and shepherds in the fields, and governors and soldiers, on top of all of these things and many more, God Himself came. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

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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So in all your preparation this week involving gift wrapping and cookie baking, do not neglect your own hearts and the hearts of your children. Humble yourselves before the Lord’s appearing. Anticipate His arrival. Tell the story again and again to your family, increasing their joy and wonder in Him.

For the Lord is near, the Lord is coming, the darkness is fleeing and the light of Christ is dawning. So lift up your heads and receive Your King.
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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.

Revelation is a notoriously challenging book of the Bible, but like the rest of Scripture, it was written for our edification. Much of it is written in highly symbolic language, but it was written to “reveal” the truth not confuse or obscure it. One of the interpretive keys comes at the very beginning: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God have unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass… Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear… for the time is at hand” (Rev. 1:1, 3).

What John saw in the Revelation was an apocalyptic vision of things that had happened or were about to happen in the first century. We noted last week that what Jesus described as the end of the world was the end of the Old Covenant world and the inauguration of a New Heavens and New Earth upon His Ascension. Likewise, here we see another angle on the same events: the defeat of Satan and His kingdom by the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.

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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The coming of the Messiah Jesus at Bethlehem was in many ways the end of the world. It was the end of an old world and at the same time the beginning a new world. In the old world Satan, Sin, and Death had a fierce power. The god of that age blinded many, and they served many idols and false gods viciously. The light of God was relatively faint and shadowy, largely limited to a tiny nation in the middle east.

But with the coming of Christ, Satan has been struck with a fatal blow, and now sin and death are on the run. Satan has been cast down and now Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. This means that we live in a radically new world, a new heavens and a new earth, and we are witnesses of a New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven.

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.