Daily Archives: December 24, 2013

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – An Intimate Look at the Birth of Jesus

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Charles Stanley

Luke 2:1-7

Every year around Christmastime, we read the account of Jesus’ birth, but perhaps we’ve let the familiarity of the story dull our concentration. More often than not, we skim over the well-known verses, telling ourselves we already understand all there is to know about the story. But without a deeper, more intimate look at our Savior’s birth, we’ll miss some of the truths the Lord wants us to learn and apply to our lives.

From a human perspective, there was nothing special about this scene. Mary and Joseph were just an ordinary couple having a baby. Because poor people were so common, even the lowly setting of a stable as a birthplace was no big deal. Yet this was the most significant event in human history. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, that baby was the fulfillment of biblical prophecy—the Creator and sovereign Ruler of the universe became Immanuel, God with us (Matt. 1: 23). The Son of God and Savior of the world was lying in a cattle feeder!

Who could ever have imagined God’s plan—to send His Son into the world as a baby who would grow up in an ordinary family? It’s such an unimpressive way for the Messiah to make His entrance. The lesson is that we can’t judge a situation on the basis of appearance.

Likewise, events that seem ordinary in our lives may be occasions when God is doing something awesome. Since He works continually to achieve His will, every event and choice in our lives has significance. We just need the eyes to see beneath the surface and the faith to believe that He’s working.

 

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — One Silent Night

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Our Daily Bread

Luke 2:1-14

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. —Luke 2:10

Simon had emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States. His wife, Kay, and all three of their children had been born in the US. Then Jenny married Roberto from Panama. Bill married Vania from Portugal. And Lucas married Bora from South Korea.

On Christmas Eve, as the family gathered for a celebration, they began singing “Silent Night” in their native tongues—a sweet sound indeed for the Lord of the earth to hear as they celebrated the birth of His Son.

Two thousand years ago, the silence of a quiet night ended abruptly when an angel told the shepherds a baby had been born: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people” (Luke 2:10). Then a multitude of angels began praising God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (v.14). Christ the Lord, the Savior of the world, was born!

God’s gracious gift, His Son, which was announced on that long-ago silent night, is still available to everyone—“every tribe and nation” (Titus 2:11-14; Rev. 5:9-10). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). —Cindy Hess Kasper

Silent night! holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight;

Glories stream from heaven afar,

Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia—

Christ the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is born! —Mohr

Heaven’s choir came down to sing when heaven’s King came down to save.

Bible in a year: Habakkuk 1-3; Revelation 15

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Good News Bad News

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Ravi Z

One of the wonderful aspects of the Christmas season is the celebration of unique and sometimes quirky family traditions that make the season special for each one of us. In my family, we had several Christmas television specials that became part of our celebration ritual. One of my favorites was “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” I loved the music that undergirded the animated characters and plot; I loved the fact that Charlie Brown finds the lowliest Christmas tree for the pageant, and I loved Linus’s gentle, yet poignant reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. I’m sure we all remember his slow walk to the center of the stage with thumb in mouth and blanket trailing behind him.

To this day, his recitation from the second chapter of Luke still gives me goose bumps. Tears of joy and beauty often fill my eyes as I hear his small, childlike voice proclaiming the powerful message of God’s good news:

“And the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger.’  And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased’” (Luke 2:8-14).

In recalling Linus’s recitation, I’ve been thinking about the message of good news the angels proclaimed to the shepherds that starry night. I think about what a contrast that message is to our prevailing “bad news” messages today. Wars continue; millions of children are orphaned because of AIDS; political candidates lambaste and defame one another instead of discussing policy agenda and objectives; friends lose loved ones to cancer. We live in a world of bad news.

As I juxtapose the bad news of our world with Luke’s message of good news, I have to wonder if it’s just wishful thinking. In light of our bad news world, what is good about the good news?

First, the angel proclaims that salvation has come in one “born this day in the city of David, who is Messiah.” For those poor shepherds, this was indeed good news! Their deliverer had come to rescue them from Roman oppression, and now all of Israel would be restored under the rule of God’s messiah. Second, the good news of God’s promised Messiah demonstrates God’s favor towards us. “Glory to God in the highest,” the angel host says, “and on earth peace among men with whom God is pleased.” The Greek word for pleased literally means “to think well of, to approve, or to take delight in or pleasure.” So often, perhaps influenced by bad news all around us, many of us struggle with a foreboding sense that God is angry with us, smoldering with rage and wrath against us. But the angels declare the exact opposite—and this is indeed, good news!  God sends Jesus, the Messiah, out of a sense of delight and pleasure with his creation. The Messiah coming as one of us, Immanuel, God with us is the greatest good news we could ever hope to receive. Jesus says in John’s gospel, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only, begotten son; that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

In the face of the bad news of our world and in our lives, the good news of God should resound in our hearts and minds as we enter the Christmas season: God is with us, God is pleased with us, and God loves us! Jesus inaugurates the reign of good news, his shalom, even in the face of bad news. We can embrace the good news of God’s reign even in the midst of crisis. And we can live the good news as we continue to hope in the God who has dwelt among us. “In the world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Glory to God in the highest!

Margaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington.

 

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – He Became Poor

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Alistair Begg

For your sake he became poor.

2 Corinthians 8:9

The Lord Jesus Christ was eternally rich, glorious, and exalted; but “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor.” As the wealthy believer cannot be true in his fellowship with his poor brethren unless from his wealth he ministers to their needs, so (the same rule holding with the head as between the members) it is impossible that our Divine Lord could have had fellowship with us unless He had given to us from His own abounding wealth and had become poor so as to make us rich.

If He had remained upon His throne of glory, and we had continued in the ruins of the Fall without receiving His salvation, fellowship would have been impossible on both sides. Our position by the Fall, apart from the covenant of grace, made it as impossible for fallen man to communicate with God as it is for Satan to be in communion with Christ. In order, therefore, that communion might be enjoyed, it was necessary for the rich relative to bestow his estate upon his poor relatives, for the righteous Savior to give to His sinning brethren from His own perfection, and for we, the poor and guilty, to receive of His fullness grace for grace, so that in giving and receiving, the One might descend from the heights, and the other ascend from the depths, and in this way be able to embrace each other in true and hearty fellowship.

Poverty must be enriched by Him in whom are infinite treasures before it can begin to commune; and guilt must lose itself in imputed and imparted righteousness before the soul can walk in fellowship with purity. Jesus must clothe His people in His own garments or He cannot admit them into His palace of glory; and He must wash them in His own blood or else they will be too defiled for the embrace of His fellowship.

Believer, herein is love! For your sake the Lord Jesus “became poor” that He might lift you up into communion with Himself.

 

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – A Merry Christmas

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CharlesSpurgeon

“And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.” Job 1:4-5

Suggested Further Reading: Nehemiah 8:9-12

The text gives a licence. Now, ye souls who would deny to your fellow-men all sorts of mirth, come and listen to the merry bell of this text, while it gives a licence to the righteous especially—a licence that they meet together in their houses, and eat and drink, and praise their God. In Cromwell’s days, the Puritans thought it an ungodly thing for men to keep Christmas. They, therefore, tried to put it down, and the common crier went through the street, announcing that Christmas was henceforth no more to be kept, it being a popish, if not a heathenish ceremony. Now, you do not suppose that after the crier had made the proclamation, any living Englishman took any notice of it; at least, I can scarcely imagine that any did, except to laugh at it; for it is idle thus to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Although we do not keep the fast as papists, not even as a commemorative festival, yet there is something in old associations that makes us enjoy the day in which a man may shake off the cares of business, and relax with his little ones. God forbid I should be such a Puritan as to proclaim the annihilation of any day of rest which falls to the lot of the labouring man. I wish there were half a dozen holidays in the year. I wish there were more opportunities for the poor to rest; though I would not have as many saint’s days as there are in Romish countries; yet, if we had but one or two more days in which the poor man’s household, and the rich man’s family might meet together, it might perhaps be better for us. However, I am quite certain that all the preaching in the world will not put Christmas down.

For meditation: Perhaps you are completely opposed to the keeping of Christmas! That is your right! But you can still benefit from the holiday and show the joy of the Lord to those who are going to be with you.

Sermon no. 352

24 December (Preached 23 December 1860)

 

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – The Restriction of Man’s Destiny

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John MacArthur

“But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him” (Heb. 2:8).

God gave man dominion over all the earth, and the earth supplied his every need. All he had to do was accept and enjoy the earth as provided for him. But Adam sinned and Satan usurped the crown. A new chain of command was born: the earth now rules man.

To know how true that is, all you need do is look at the amount of effort expended on restoring the ecological balance of the earth. Environmentalism is a popular watchword of our day. Yet with all our modern technology, we are still unable to gain control over the earth.

Look what happened once Adam sinned: no longer could man easily harvest what the earth provided–now he had to toil by the sweat of his brow (Gen. 3:18). Women would experience pain in childbirth (3:16). Murder soon followed in Adam’s family. God had to destroy virtually all mankind in the Flood because they had become so debauched.

Much of the animal kingdom now lives in fear of man and cannot be tamed. Where once the earth produced good things naturally and abundantly, now it produces thorns, weeds, and other harmful things. Extremes of heat and cold, poisonous plants and reptiles, earthquakes, typhoons, floods, hurricanes, and disease were all products of the Fall. Man was no longer a king but a slave–a dying creature fighting a losing battle with a dying earth.

Amazingly, the earth is aware of its condition: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it” (Rom. 8:20). Now it eagerly awaits for the day when the sons of God, believers, are manifest in the kingdom, for then it will be liberated from the bondage of corruption (vv. 19, 21-22).

There is coming a day, in the wonderful plan of God, when man will receive once again the dominion that he lost. May our Lord hasten its coming!

Suggestion for Prayer:

Thank God that He will one day redeem the earth from its subjection to the curse.

For Further Study:

Read Isaiah 60:21, 65:25, 2 Peter 3:13, and Revelation 21:27. What will characterize the new earth?

 

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – We Need a Guide

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Joyce meyer

This God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide [even] until death.—Psalm 48:14

It thrills me to know that God is our guide through every day of our lives. How wonderful to know that we have Someone to guide us and ensure that we get from one destination in life to the next.

Sometimes when Dave and I travel, we hire a guide to show us the best and most important sites to see. One time, we decided we would explore a certain place by ourselves; that way, we reasoned, we could do what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it. However, we quickly found that our independent trip was nearly wasted. We spent large portions of each day getting lost and then trying to find our way again. We have learned from our mistakes and we now know the best use of our time is to follow a guide rather than wandering aimlessly to find places ourselves.

I believe this example from our travels relates to how most people are in life. We want to chart our own courses, be our own guides, and do what we want to do at our convenience. But we typically lose our way and end up wasting our time. God has promised in today’s verse to guide us through our lives. He does this through the Holy Spirit, Who will speak to us and tell us where to go and what to do if we will simply ask Him to lead us.

God’s word for you today: Every moment of your life, even unto death, wherever you are, God is there!

 

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Way Up Is Down

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dr_bright

“But among you it is quite different. Anyone wanting to be a leader among you must be a servant. And if you want to be right at the top, you must serve like a slave. Your attitude must be like My own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give My life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28).

This is another one of those remarkable paradoxes of the Christian life. If you want to live, you must die. If you want to receive, you must give. If you want to lead, you must serve – contrary to the secular emphasis in the area of business, education, government and media. There the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest, prevails. Do not worry about the mangled, mutilated bodies on which you tread as you climb the ladder of success. The important thing is to reach the top.

Not so with Jesus or for those who truly follow Him. The way up in the spiritual realm is down. To command is to humble yourself, then God will exalt you. Take the low seat and be invited to a higher place of honor, because there is strength in weakness and power in serving.

Much emphasis is placed on the importance of building leaders even in the Christian world. However, if we are going to follow the example of our Lord and obey the biblical concepts of leadership, by our attitudes and actions we must become servants. One of the byproducts of serving others is the law of sowing and reaping. The more you serve others, the more God blesses you. If you have a problem with feelings of inadequacy, poor self-image, undue introspection, or depression and frustration, one of the best remedies is to begin to serve others. Give someone else your time, your talent and your treasure. Inevitably, your life will be blessed and enriched and you will become more fruitful as a result of such service.

Bible Reading: Philippians 2:3-11

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will resolve with God’s help to be more of a servant to those around me, following the example of my Lord as one of the keys to supernatural living.

 

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.K. – They Still Seek Him

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ppt_seal01

Josephus and other writers of ancient times expressed an expectation that God would soon bring a person on the scene who would deliver men from their bondage. When the wise men arrived at Herod’s doorstep inquiring, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2), there was much agitation…Herod in anger and Israel in anticipation.

They saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.

Matthew 2:11

These travelers from the east, Gentiles and strangers, were convinced that the Lord was marking the entry of a great king into the world by a brilliant star. They embarked on a long and arduous journey, inspired to complete it. When the star finally led them directly to Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus lived, today’s verse confirms they knew they’d found the One they sought! They fell down before the small child and gave Him treasures fit for a king.

You have much to give Him as well: riches, wisdom and honor – your all. Lay everything at His feet in complete surrender on this precious Christmas Eve. Wise men still seek Jesus. Pray that the people of this nation will look for Him and find Him…then joyfully adore Him.

Recommended Reading: Psalm 22:23-31

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie –Just Another Night in Bethlehem

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greglaurie

Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things! —Joel 2:21

On the first Christmas Eve, there were no brightly colored lights on anyone’s homes. There were no stockings that had been hung with care or any visions of sugarplums dancing in children’s heads. It was just another night in Bethlehem. The census had gone out—that command by Caesar that everyone was to be taxed. But history was about to change in Bethlehem.

All of Israel was living in a very frightening time historically. They lived under the tyrant King Herod who would execute people at will. In addition, the Jews were living in occupied territory. The Romans had taken control of their country. They were no longer free to do what they wanted and live as they wanted. They wondered if Rome would ever leave. Would the violent rule ever cease? Would their world ever change?

Then suddenly angels appeared to the shepherds and told them not to be afraid; the Messiah had been born.

There is a lot to be afraid of in our unstable, volatile world today. It seems that at every turn, we hear about another horrific tragedy happening in our world. It can cause us to be terrified.

Then there are the personal fears: What if I lose my health? What if I lose a member of my family? What if this happens? What if that happens? A lot of things run through our minds.

Here is the message of the first Christmas—and the message for us this Christmas: Don’t be afraid. . . . I bring you good tidings of great joy.

Ray Stedman wrote, “The chief mark of the Christian ought to be the absence of fear and the presence of joy.”

Does that describe you? Fear is what Christmas came to remove—and now we can have joy in its place.

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Ordinary No More

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Max Lucado

It was an ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. Then the black sky exploded with brightness.  Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity.  Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity.  One minute the shepherd was dead asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an angel!

The night was ordinary no more. The angel came in the night because it’s when lights are best seen and when they are most needed.  It all happened in a most remarkable moment—a moment like no other.  God became a man.  Divinity arrived.  Heaven opened and placed her most precious one in a human womb.  God had come near!

In the mystery of Christmas, we find its majesty. The mystery of how God became flesh, why he chose to come at all, and how much he must love his people!

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men”  (Luke 2:13).

From Christmas Stories