Wishing You and Yours a Healthy, Happy, and Prosperous New year!

A Very Pleasant Surprise

One of my first post-Christmas purchases out of my Amazon cart was Phil Brigandi's new book, Orange County Chronicles (Orange County Chronicles).  I love local history and read much about the early days of OC. 

When I was looking through my newest acquisition, I soon discovered this picture on page 126.  The dark-haired young lady behind the counter next to Walter Knott is my mother, Marian Morris.  I had seen the picture before in the Knott's museum, and in an out of print book on the life of Walter Knott, but to find it in Brigandi's book was a pleasant surprise indeed.  Now I've got my own copy.

This was about the time my mom met my dad, Clayton.  He was a college student who showed up looking for a part-time job.  My mom liked his looks, and talked her sister Virginia (who was Mr. Knott's first secretary) into hiring him.  They were married on June 21, 1941.  My dad served in the FBI during World War 2.  My folks would later open a Christian bookstore at Knott's in May of 1956 (in Fiesta Village).  Our store was eventually relocated in 1983 to a vacant office complex on Grand Ave., just a few feet from where this photo was taken 1940.  How's that for irony.  We closed the store in January of 1994.

By the way, Brigandi's book is a good read.

"A Great High Priest" -- Hebrews 4:14-5:10

The Seventh in a Series of Sermons on the Book of Hebrews

The author of Hebrews has been relentless in building his case for the superiority of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is superior to the angels–he is their creator and they worship and serve him.  Jesus is superior to Moses–Jesus is without sin, and the mediator of a better covenant with much greater promises.  The Christian Sabbath (the Lord’s Day) has much better promises than those of the Jewish Sabbath–on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) we are given a foretaste of our eternal rest, in addition to being given an opportunity to rest our weary bodies.  Beginning in verse 14 of chapter four, the author of Hebrews returns to a theme he introduced earlier in the epistle, the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus Christ to the priesthood of Israel.  The author will now spend several chapters demonstrating to his readers/hearers a number of the specific ways in which Jesus’ priesthood is superior to that of the priests of Israel.

As we continue with our series on the Book of Hebrews, this we take up what amounts to the central theme of this epistle–the superiority of Jesus Christ to all those elements in the Old Testament which pointed ahead to the coming of our Lord, yet which served as the heart of first century Judaism.  While we don’t know the name of the author of the epistle (he is likely someone well-known in the Pauline circle), and we don’t know which congregation was receiving this letter (likely a struggling house church in Rome or even Alexandria), we do know that this letter was written to church composed largely of Hellenistic Jews who were recent converts to Christianity.  Hellenistic Jews (Greek in culture, Jewish in theology) accepted the authority of the LXX (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), and many Hellenistic Jews converted to Christianity during the apostolic age.

The issue which the author of Hebrews is addressing is that many of the members of this church had made professions of faith in Christ and were baptized, but began to wilt under the pressure from their Jewish friends and family, or from the civil authorities.  Sadly, many in this church renounced Christ, and returned to the synagogue.  Others, apparently, were seriously considering doing the same thing.  Therefore, the unnamed author writes this epistle to warn the members of this church about the serious nature of the sin of apostasy.  It is no small thing to make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, be baptized in his name, and then renounce him by returning to a religion founded upon the types and shadows which had pointed ahead to the coming of Jesus in the first place. 

To make his case, the author repeatedly appeals to the Old Testament (specifically, the LXX, seen as authoritative by his audience), demonstrating how the Old Testament writers spoke of the coming of Jesus Christ and his superiority to those things which Hellenistic Jews found central in the Old Testament.  Throughout this epistle we not only see how Jesus was hidden in the types and shadows of the Old Testament, but we, as Gentile readers two millennia removed, are given a lesson in how to read the Old Testament through the lens of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

Mike Horton Discusses Life After Death

This Week at Christ Reformed Church (December 30-January 5, 2014)

Sunday Morning (January 5, 2014):  We return to our series on the Gospel of John.  We are in the middle of Jesus' Upper Room Discourse and looking at John 15:18-16:4a, when Jesus warns us of the hatred of the world. 

Sunday Afternoon:  We are resuming our study of the Canons of Dort.  We will be turning to the "second head" of doctrine and considering the holy justice of God.  Our afternoon catechism service which begins @ 1:15 p.m. 

Wednesday Night Bible Study resumes on January 15, 2014

Our Friday Night Academy resumes in January 2014

For more information and directions, check out the Christ Reformed website:  Christ Reformed Church

"They Fell Down and Worshipped Him" -- Matthew 2:1-12

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon.

Click Here

This Week's White Horse Inn

Top Ten Rules of Interpretation (Part 2)

Many of us have memorized Bible verses, but we often remain ignorant of the larger context from which these verses originate. We often lose the forest for the trees. We’ve all heard interpretations of Scripture that reduce the meaning of a text to a kind of spiritual allegory. What are the problems with these ways of interacting with Scripture? We will address these issues and more as we conclude our discussion of the top ten rules of proper biblical interpretation. 

Click Here

The Airing of Grievances

Alright, alright, I know that the "Airing of Grievances" is supposed to occur during the Festivus dinner on December 23rd (Festivus).  Since I performed the "Feats of Strength" and procured the Festivus Pole, and even witnessed a Festivus "Miracle," I couldn't let the Festivus season go without the "Airing of Grievances."

I have three grievances I wish to air this year (if the truth were known, I have a lot more than three, but these are the ones I feel like sharing).  You may add your own Festivus "Grievances" or describe your Festivus miracle or "Feats of Strength" in the comments section below.

Grievance # 1:  I do my Christmas and Festivus shopping online.  I usually enter a store's website as a "guest."  I make sure to click and remove the check mark from the microscopic box requesting that I be removed from future email advertisements from this company.  Since I made my purchases, however, I have been bombarded with emails (and even phone calls) from these same companies.  I won't tell you who these business might be (Omaha Steaks, Macy's, and Coldwater Creek to name a few), but I won't buy from any of them again.  At least until next Festivus.

Grievance # 2:  One of my favorite gifts each year is an Amazon gift card.  My cart is always packed, and I can starting emptying it out.  However, have you ever tried to scratch off the gray sticker over the gift card number without removing the numbers?  Nearly impossible!

Grievance # 3:  The BCS Bowl System.  The NCAA knuckleheads have managed to ruin one of the best days of the year.  It used to be that I would spend all day on New Years gorging myself on Christmas left-overs while watching college football bowl games.  There was the Cotton Bowl, the Rose Bowl, the Orange Bowl, and by the time the day was over, I had gained ten pounds, and the college football season was all wrapped up.  The sportswriters and coaches voted that night for their number one team, and by January 2, the season was all over.  Now the college football bowl season seems to last from Thanksgiving to Valentines' Day, with the most ridiculous of corporate sponsors, and that inane BCS selection system.  I want New Year's Day football back like it was in the good old days!

Happy (and belated) Festivus to all of you!

Merry Christmas from the Riddleblogger and His Missus!

Mick and I wish you all a very merry Christmas, and a healthy and prosperous new year!

Mike Horton Resonds to the Question, "Why Is There So Much Evil and Suffering?"