Posts Tagged ‘ jesus ’

It’s a Beautiful Day!

December 24, 2011
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This season is one of my favorite four of the year! It’s hard to be sleepy when you step outside and inhale a breath of crisp winter air. It’s hard to miss the beauty of lights and decorations in our homes and communities. I enjoy this time of year.

You and I know that we don’t know when Jesus was born. The Bible is oddly specific in the details it leaves for us regarding the birth of Jesus. We learn about the gifts that were brought, the location of his birth, the response to his birth—but we don’t learn the date or all other sorts of interesting information. I suspect there’s a divine reason for this: God wants us to focus on Jesus—not the things that surround him.

I am grateful that the Christmas season is the de facto time when people remember the birth of Jesus, because without it, they might not think about him at all.

I’m glad that when people think about the birth of Jesus, they think about giving.  After all, God does love a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7), and “the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35).

I’m thrilled that when people tell the story of his virgin birth, they are reminded that as the angel told Mary, “nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) Even the impossible is possible.

I’m encouraged by the charities that operate this time of the year to make sure that even in the darkest, coldest time of the year, the “least of these” are taken care of. (Matthew 25:40)

I’m glad to know that God is in the saving business, that He is here, and that he has a plan for me. I’m thrilled that today we can worship this God as a family. Aren’t you?

Why would Jesus ask a question?

April 1, 2011
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Most Bible students are aware that Jesus frequently asked questions. It’s easy for us to lose sight of just how significant it is that Jesus would ask a question. He’s certainly not asking to get information for his own purposes—he knows he could ask his Father anything! So when Jesus asks a question, we should pay careful attention to what he’s doing.

Roy Zuck wrote a book called Teaching as Jesus Taught and identified fifteen reasons that Jesus asked questions. Here is his list for your consideration:

1. To cause someone to recall facts
2. To promote conversation
3. To point out something that isn’t true
4. To get agreement
5. To push for an expression of faith
6. To prod for an opinion
7. To prove faith and commitment
8. To promote reflection and thinking
9. To persuade critics of error
10. To pull people up
11. To pour out emotions
12. To reveal motives
13. To prick the conscience
14. To pinpoint a topic
15. To press for the application of the truth

As we study the questions of Jesus, watch to see why Jesus asks what he does. Watch your heart to see how it needs to respond to the most important questions ever asked!

Good advice or bad advice?

March 25, 2011
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I can’t claim this as my own, but the 21st Century Christian e-newsletter this week has something you need to read. What would it have looked like if the Pharisees had offered Jesus some “friendly advice” to make things go more smoothly for him? They could have offered him these five tips:

1. Back off on the Sabbath healings. Can’t you just do your good work on the other six days? It’d cause a whole lot less trouble. Don’t rock the boat.

2. Clean up your image. It’s hard to take you seriously if you’re going to go healing on the wrong day of the week, spitting and making mud, sticking your fingers in peoples’ ears, and playing in the sand! Don’t even get us started on that water-to-wine stuff!

3. Think about who you hang out with. Do you really want to be known as the friend of tax collectors, political wackos, prostitutes, lepers, and uneducated rednecks? What would your mother think?

4. Let go of some of your “out-there” teaching methods. You’re doing a lot of this story-telling stuff. Why don’t you just make your point and quote the verse? And why do you keep answer questions with questions? Can’t you just speak plainly?

5. Watch your tongue! It’s just not polite to go around calling people “broods of vipers” and “sons of hell.” Don’t be such a downer! Whenever we hang out, you keep going on and on with “Woe” this and “woe” that. That’s no way to win friends and influence people!

It’s not hard for me to imagine the Pharisees giving that advice. Aren’t you glad that Jesus wouldn’t have taken it? It is remarkable to consider the way that he spoke the truth in love. He was kind and direct. He was compassionate, but he was intolerant of wickedness in God’s name. He called things like they were—regardless of who liked it and who didn’t. Simply put, Jesus taught perfectly.

While you and I will never be the teacher that Jesus was, we can learn from him. Let’s imitate his compassion and his courage in our interactions.

This is how the birth of Jesus took place…

December 17, 2010
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This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about… Matthew 1:18

No law of science can explain the birth of the Christ Child. It can only be explained by an act of the Almighty God. Mary couldn’t explain it herself, much less explain it to her friends and family. Neither could Joseph. The unusual visitor caused Joseph to change his prospective. 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

Mary and Joseph decided to remain in Bethlehem after Jesus was born. Faithful to the Law of Moses they had Jesus circumcised when he was eight days old. Jesus was presented in the temple at Jerusalem when he was forty days old.

It was at this occasion that Mary and Joseph were met by two senior saints: Simeon and Anna. The shepherds had already told their story. Now it was time for Simeon and Anna to tell theirs. What a story they told!

Later the Magi will arrive from the East. The “East” could be Parthia, Babylon, Persia or Egypt. Older scholars pick Persia; the scholars of today seem to favor Babylon. Either way they would have taken several months to travel to Bethlehem. That would explain the statement in Matthew 2:11 “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary.

It is a time of special intervention from heaven. God will now keep his promise to Abraham that “In your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed”. Is was a giant step for God and a giant step for mankind.

We rejoice with the shepherds, the magi, the angels, Simeon and Anna, Joseph and Mary. We bow the knee to Jesus who was born in Bethlehem and we bring gifts to him: our very souls!

The Life of Jesus: Not a Failure!

July 8, 2009
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Jesus said, “It is finished.” John 19:30

When you look at the life of Jesus from a human standpoint, you might conclude that his life was a failure. From a purely human standpoint he didn’t do much.

He never traveled more than a few miles from his hometown. He never wrote any books. He never painted any pictures in giant cathedrals. He might have built a good yoke for oxen that fit well, but they are long gone and almost forgotten.

He never ran for public office. He never owned large portions of land. He never had thousands working for him in a business. He never invented something that made medical or aviation history.

He was a simple Galilean peasant who changed the world. More books have been written about him than any other in history. More cathedrals have been erected in his honor. More political systems have been affected by his followers and his teaching. More travelers have carried the word of this man to more places on the earth than any other. More pictures and sculptures have honored him than any man in history.

At the end of his life he uttered the simple phrase “It is finished.” That phrase speaks volumes. He accomplished what he came to do. He died that man might have a chance to live. His life was the greatest success of all time. His life and death is still making a difference in this world and is making a huge difference in my life and yours

It looked as if his ministry was a failure but he lives and that is all we need to know. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. (John 17:4)

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