Individuals that God uses in a special way are often put through deeper and more difficult trials than others. We see this throughout Scripture. You cannot name a single individual used greatly by God that did not face fire, opposition, sickness, hardship, persecution and testing. In fact, you often see a correlation between the depth of their despair and the height to which God uses them after they have been proven by the testing. The deeper the pit the higher the mountaintop to follow. This is counterintuitive to our way of thinking (and, sadly, also counter to much of what today is proclaimed as “gospel”). Why would a loving God not treat His children better?
Revelation 13:7
(The beast) was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. …
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The fact that you are reading this indicates we survived the Mayan “end of the world” December 21. That’s nice but it doesn’t mean an apocalyptic end is not coming. This passage warns us one is coming. But doesn’t this passage seem strange to you?
Biblically we know any power originates in God so whatever power the beast has ultimately comes from God. The beast is given power, from God, to conquer God’s people. Lord, I see a few reasons You would do this but it still confuses me that these folks, who have your Word and all its wonderful promises of overcoming Satan, are going to be conquered. That seems strange to me.
Then I think of Mary. Gabriel appears telling her she will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit – a story folks are not likely to believe. (Luke 1) You could have had Gabriel tell the whole town or tell her parents so at least they would believe her story. Instead, you do it privately and let her bare the ridicule that certainly accompanied such a fantastic story. I can see some reasons You would do that but it still seems strange to me. Continue reading →
Matthew 2:16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.
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I can’t even begin to fathom the grief caused by this act carried out by Herod in an attempt to kill the child, Jesus. As a nation we are mourning the death of the “babies” senselessly slaughtered at Newtown, CT. Imagine every boy under the age of two in an entire city and the surrounding area brutally butchered with no police to intervene. In fact, this act of brutality was carried out by the law enforcement officials.
Here it is in chronological order.
If you have young listeners be sure to choose an easier to understand version like The New International Version or New Living Translation. If you have really small, or impatient listeners, read only the sections listed in bold.
A tradition we enjoyed when the children were small was to have them use the pieces of a non-breakable nativity set to act out the action while Dad read. (See the video below to see that this does not have to be some high and holy experience. Have fun with it.)
Print this out and store it with your decorations and you’ll be ready to do it again next year.
Have fun and a Merry Christmas.
THE BIRTH OF THE SAVIOR John 1:1- 5, 14 (Eternal Word made flesh) Luke 1:5-25 (Zechariah’s vision) Luke 1:26-56 (Mary’s vision and trip) Matthew 1:18-25 (Joseph’s first dream) Luke 2:1-20 (Bethlehem & Shepherds) Matthew 2:1-12 (Magi) Matthew 2:13-23 (To Egypt and Nazareth)
Want to see how this works?
Jonathan dug up an old home movie of one of our Christmas readings while we lived in Guatemala, Central America.
Check it out here.
Colossians 3:23, 24
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
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If you work in a grocery store, you don’t get paid by the hospital down the street. It is the guy you work for who pays you. Most of us see ourselves working for an individual, maybe even ourselves, or for a company. That individual pays us.
But this passage says that as a believer whatever I do I should do it as though the Lord is my employer. It also promises that if I do that I can be assured He will “reward” me. My paycheck will not just come from the earthly boss but I will also be compensated by the Heavenly boss whom, in my heart, I am truly serving. Continue reading →
Someone wrote and asked: In reading I came across this. What do you think about these statements? “Because of our rebellion and disobedience we are separated from God and we do not experience His love. As long as we are going our own way and doing our own thing we do not experience God’s love. In order to experience God’s love we must be ‘born again.'”
ANSWER: I disagree. I appreciate what he is trying to say but thankfully you do not have to be born again to experience God’s love. Continue reading →
I am convinced there is life on other planets and they are using Washington DC as their insane asylum. Like me, do you ever get frustrated with the nonsense spouted by professional politicians? I find it hard to not speak critically about the blatant hypocrisy but the Word regularly convicts me about doing so.
Titus 3 not only convicted me but went on to explain why, though I don’t have to support or laud bad leadership, I shouldn’t speak evil even of evil men.
When I was in the Navy I remember a young lieutenant asking me this “profound” puzzler. “Can God do anything? Can He make a rock so big he cannot lift it?” As a young believer and a novice in God’s Word, I had no answer for him as he smugly walked away.
This is a rather common question asked by pseudo-intellectuals who think they have stumbled across a great chink in the Christian’s belief about the omnipotence of God. The answer to the question is quite simply, “No, there are many things God cannot do.”
For one thing, he cannot do something that is logically impossible such as make a rock so big He cannot lift it. Neither can he draw a square circle. For that matter, He can not do something that is impossible. Because the moment he accomplished the feat, it would no longer be impossible since He proved it was possible for Him.
But we don’t have to stoop to such nonsense to find things God cannot do. The Bible clearly says it is “impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18) and that “He cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13), meaning violate His own nature or integrity. He can not stop being God. He can not stop being good. He cannot cease to exist – since existence is a component of goodness. I could go on and on listing things God can not do but I think you grasp the concept.
When Christians speak of God’s omnipotence or when Jesus assures us that “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26) we are not referring to either ludicrous scenarios that parade as profound discoveries of truth nor to things that would violate God’s very nature and character. Omnipotent is understood to be “possessing all power”. Simply put, that means God can do anything that can be done. He has the ability to perform any feat consistent with His character and nature.
This is one reason it is so vital that believers study the Word to know what God says about Himself and the world around us. As believers, we appear foolish when we try to defend God and ascribe to Him attributes that He does not even claim for Himself. “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) And remember, just because you do not know the answer and there seems there could be no answer, it does not mean a reasonable and logic answer is not out there and available to those who continue to diligently search God’s Word.
_________________________ Matthew 22:29
But Jesus said, “Your error is caused by your ignorance of the Scriptures and of God’s power!
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
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Based on this passage I have heard people say “God won’t give us more than we can handle”. I have heard it applied to struggles in relationships, finances, health, most any area of life that can be overwhelming. Not only does this verse not promise that “God won’t give us more than we can handle”, it actually says the opposite.
Paul, the apostle who wrote this, was given more than he could handle. In 2 Corinthians 1:8 he says that while ministering in Asia “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure …” so God will allow more to come into our lives than we can handle.
Why would God allow such a thing? Paul explains that in the next passage.
“This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”. God will regularly “give us more than we can handle” so we can learn to trust Him and not our own strength.
But this passage does not even say God will limit the power of temptation in our lives to something we can handle. It does say that when an overwhelming temptation comes He will provide a way of escape. The way we “bear” up under the temptation is by taking the way of escape.
The conclusion: Though God may not send the overwhelming trials nor the temptations into our lives (James 1:13) He will definitely allow us to experience more than we can handle so we learn to flee temptation and learn to trust Him in times of stress.
_____________________ Matthew 26:41
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
1 John 4:20
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
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A statement that irks me like few others is, “I like Jesus. It is Christians I can’t stand.” That statement seems all cool, clever, above the fray, non-judgmental (unlike judgmental Christians) but actually it is a declaration of pitiful ignorance. Why?
If it is a believer saying it, 1 John 4:20 makes it clear it is impossible to say God is OK in my book but I don’t like His people. The Holy Spirit clearly says if you don’t love God’s kids, your brothers and sisters, you don’t truly love God (cannot love God), either.
When unbelievers say they like Jesus but can’t stand Christians they explain it is because Christians are narrrow-minded, judgmental, unloving, intolerant, holier than thou, etc, etc, etc ad nauseam. Jesus, on the other hand, was none of these things. He always walked around with a strange glow encircling His head, flashing the two finger peace sign and kissing babies.
Unlike the ultimate good ole boy that Jesus is, Christians say narrow-minded things like, “you can’t get to heaven unless you follow Jesus.” Where do they come up with these nutty ideas? They say unloving things like “there is a future of eternal torment that awaits those who reject Jesus.” They even say good people like Gandhi or Elvis didn’t go to heaven unless they trusted in Jesus instead of their good works. Get real! Elvis not in heaven?
Why do Christians get such a bum rap when everybody loves Jesus? Because those who say they like “Jesus” but think the church is too judgmental, narrow-minded, unloving, etc, are in love with a “Jesus” that they created in their image. You see, it is (narrow-minded) Jesus who said no one can come to God except through Him. (John 14:6) It is (intolerant) Jesus who warned an eternity of torment awaits those who reject Him. (Matthew 25:46) Judgmental Christians who say Gandhi or Elvis (or you and I) can’t get to heaven based upon our own efforts are simply stating what God’s Word says. (Ephesians 2:8, 9) It is even (holier than thou) Jesus who, when he forgave the woman caught in adultery, told her to go and change her lifestyle – “sin no more”. (John 8:11)
Granted, there are people who claim to be Christians but do not live like Jesus. They give Christianity a bad “image”. But, those followers who truly echo the words and the attitudes of Christ are not very popular either. And it is certainly true that some Christians can be a bit harder to love than others (my guess is they were also “love challengers” before they began to follow Jesus). But it exposes blatant ignorance to say we love God but not His kids – ignorance of Scripture but, even more critically, it usually also betrays ignorance of who God truly is – His nature and character as He has revealed Himself in His Word.
It is a package deal. You want Jesus? He comes with His still flawed, still imperfect, still in process family – the family of God. Gotta love ’em.
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To live above with the Saints we love,
Ah, that is the purest glory.
To live below with the Saints we know,
Ah, that is another story!
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I appreciate what he is trying to say but thankfully you do not have to be born again to experience God’s love. 
