Living in Christ

“Born Unto Us This Day!” Scripture: Luke 2:8-14 Introduction: When you think of Christmas, what comes to mind? Many of us would remember the Christmas’s of the past, of the joy and the love we shared as we gathered with family and friends to celebrate the occasion by delicious foods and gifts unimaginable. We might remember that special gift that we asked for and, to our astonishment, received. We might think of the response from someone close to us that opened a gift we gave to them. The joy and wonder in their eyes as they opened their treasure. We might think of the wonderful lights and beautiful displays that would meet our eyes as we wondered from neighborhood to neighborhood. And, of course, who could forget the tree? Splendidly decorated to our fancy and our taste as we prepared to celebrate what has become a retailer’s delight. Oh yes! The wonders of Christmas! The sights, the sounds, the smells! But, may I say to you that this should not be the significance of the day kno

  What goes through our minds at this time of the year?  Are we concerned and worried about financial and material stuff?  I thought that it would be appropriate to list what should be on our minds at this time of year! "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16 KJV "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11 NIV. "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14 NIV. "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law

   I would like to ask all of us just how much trauma we are going through this holiday season?  Not with gifts and such, but with lost jobs, marital and family problems, illness and the like.  There can be so many things going on that we actually forget to celebrate the joy and comfort of what we celebrate at this time of the year.  Many of us celebrate the birth of our Savior and still others of us celebrate the new life that a new year can bring.  But what of the darkness that haunts many of us knowing that even after the holidays, the darkness still remains? "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.  He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.  Even though I walk in through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23:1-4 NIV.   As we face our trials and struggles,

  Millions of us around the world are now celebrating the gift-giving season.  We watch all the commercials on our televisions proclaiming to us to buy this product or by that product.  Thousands of us have decorated up our yards and homes to celebrate Santa Claus or Frosty the Snowman.  Thousands of us will sit around and have conversations with our spouses and other family members about what bills we should not pay this month in order to run out and by our teenager a droid cell phone, which in my opinion, no teenager needs.  We will spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars, that many of us do not have, to buy gifts that will end up sitting around forgotten or broke in a few weeks.  And all of this in the name of Christmas.  If any of us would care to check our history books we would discover that the Christmas season started out as a pagan holiday full of idol worship, sacrifice, sexual immorality and the like.  Then those of the church stepped in and decided that to counter the idol

  Have you ever failed at something?  How did it make you feel?  Were you downtrodden and depressed and did you decide not to attempt it again and walk away?  Did you decide that try and try again until you accomplished what you failed at?  I believe that many of us attempt things in our own strength and this is the reason that most of us fail at things.  The Bible teaches us that we can do all things through Christ.  The Bible also tells us that it is not by our might but by the might of the Lord.  And, often times we fail because we seek the counsel of the ungodly before we seek the counsel of the Lord. "When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch."  Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything.  But because You say so, I will let down the nets."  When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break." Luke

  It is sad to think that there are still those in the Christian faith that have doubts about the events the Bible teaches us.  Especially if those events have to do with Jesus.  Today I stumbled upon a video of a young man that used to be a youth pastor in a Christian church.  He has since converted to Islam and in the video he stated that the Bible had a lot to do with his converting to Islam.  I do not really have anything against the Islamic faith, to each individual the right to choose is their own, but this young man was making statements about the death and resurrection of Jesus that I found really quite ridiculous. The evidence of Christ is more than right before our eyes, all one has to do really is look at the Apostles. "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of Me.  At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other." Matthew 24:9-10.   Jesus said in His own w

  If you pay attention to your world and yourself today, you would notice just how much condemnation we place upon others.  We judge others behaviors and actions, and are very quick to condemn and impose punishment upon others.  This is especially true of Christians.  I have often said and will continue to say that Christians can be the most brutal in judging and condemning others, especially others of the faith.  However, we must consider what is written in the Scriptures, over and over the Bible tells us that we should not judge our fellow man as we will be faced with the same judgment.  True, we are not to love sin or sinful ways, but who are we to place judgment upon someone for things that they are partaking in?  We have to make a distinction between the criminal acts, those that are against the law, and spiritual acts.  Yes, it is true that we are all commanded to obey the laws of the land and criminal acts deserve judgment and punishment.  But, what of other acts?  Many of us ar

  Did you know that our Lord never conceals His expectations from us?  We never have to guess how we are to live our lives.  His expectations for us are clearly outlined in His Word, our Bibles!  In response to many of the misguided ways that people were seeking out to please God, the prophet Micah explained what God does and does not expect of His people.  The people asked: Should we come to God with many offerings?  Should we bring a thousand rams and ten thousand rivers of oil?  Would God be pleased if we gave Him our firstborn child to express our devotion to Him?  And, like the people then, I hear many of us asking similar questions about pleasing God.  Micah gives us a pretty good answer to the questions then, and now, about how we are to please the Lord. "He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8.   In the Book of Micah, Micah listed three things that