The LORD's Day After Christmas 2008

When The Angels Had Left Them

Luke 2.1-20


This was a spectacular thing to say the least. A great company of the Heavenly Host lighting up Bethlehem’s sky with the glory of the LORD and praising God. Perhaps it was a glimpse into heaven and at the moment Jesus was born a view of the worship was given. More likely since angels do mean messengers, they sent by God to the earth. It is so wonderful that it was to a group of shepherds in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night.

Glorious visitations like this are just that- glorious and visitations. Visit implies a coming and going. The angels didn’t stay. Angels are visitors. After their work is done they are out of there. They are envoys. They come to give a message from God and then they go back to heaven. You never see angels hanging out


But what happened after... what happened when the angels left them?

If you have had an encounter with an angel you will never forget it. Yet these encounters do not last. They are brief. Sometimes God does some wonderful things as well and we can be on a high mountain like Peter, James and John were when Jesus was transfigured but then we have to come down from the mountain, back to where life is taking place.

What do we do after the angels leave and things return to normal?

Some people try to sustain these experiences. Peter suggested that they do it when they were up on Mount Hermon. Matthew 16.

1. The glory of the LORD was not visible like it was.

Laura’s e-mail this week.
Sometimes through difficulty

We can still see His glory

Jeanette’s e-mail:
To my Lovely Family & Friends,

Merry Christmas For a couple of days, I have been thinking what I was going to write in this message. I wanted it to be cutesy and joyous as well as meaningful. So, here it goes--

First, I decided to be totally different this year and write early in the morning. By now, some of you are up ripping about those presents which Santa left ONLY for you last night. By the way, I hope that you are having fun attacking these presents. By the way. the reason that I underline only is because each of you have been good this year and are very special to Santa as well as ME.

After you finish with opening your gifts. just remember that you have one more gift which can't be put under your tree. In fact, this precious gift came over 2,000 years before we were born. It came in form of a baby born in Manager. This baby came for each one of us so we can have everlasting peace and love not only on Christmas Day, but each day of our lives. As we go about enjoying this famous day, let's us pause and thinking of this important which God gave each of us. Merry Christmas and may your New Year His Peace & Love. As the words of The Christmas Song says, May all of our trouble be out of sight. That is my prayer for all of us.

Love you,
Jeanette


Behold His Glory. Some folks can see it all the time and it shows on their faces.

They live in God’s Presence even when it is not visible. Brother Lawrence called this Practicing the Presence. Samuel Logan Brengel, a commissioner in the Salvation Army lived like this.

It is a glorious way to live. Dr. Floyd Perkins lived life this way. I heard him speak one time on the subject “Life Can Be a Crescendo of Glory” I spoke to him just a month and a half before he died. He was filled with God’s Spirit and had a tender heart and spoke like Peter about his departure. (II Peter 1.12-15)

2. They decided to go and see what they were told about.

I love this. They had no command to go. They had spiritual curiosity. They wanted to know more.

More About Jesus

How is your spiritual thirst these days... your spiritual hunger? He Satisfies our souls and at the same time makes want to know Him better. This is one of the paradoxes of following Jesus. He creates a thirst while at the same time satisfying us


3. The LORD was with them.

Immanuel God with us.

This is the wondrous truth about Christmas. This is what Matthew recorded in chapter one verse 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel -which means, God with us.

Nicodemus picked up on this. John 3.1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him. He was close to the Truth. It was not that God with Jesus. He is God. It was that God was with Nicodemus. God, in the flesh, sitting and speaking to Israel’s teacher.


4. They saw the LORD.

Not in the sky but in the manger.

Not with bright glory but with Divine Simplicity. Here is a clue on what to do after wonderful experiences. Don’t miss the simple things the LORD shows up in. For instance He came through some Christmas Card and e-mails and songs this Christmas.

See the LORD Open your eyes to the things all around you

Many times our visions are not some supernatural manifestation but God revealing Himself and His Truth through the simple almost mundane things

I Corinthians 1.26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before Him.



5. They spread the Good News.

Luke 2. 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

In a few days all the Christmas decorations will be taken down and put away until next December. The Christmas lights will come down and no longer shine. Not so with you. You be like the shepherds. Go tell the Good News. The celebration continues in a different way now. We celebrate by serving. We take joy and receive so much by giving back to the LORD. He is in you Let His Spirit out. Share His love. Let Him breathe His will and desires through you.

Keep your eyes open to all the opportunities all around you They are insurmountable

The LORD's Day December 21, 2008

Where is the One Who has been Born King of the Jews?

Matthew 2.1-12

The scripture is living and active. It is dynamic. It is explodes with Truth. It is Truth.

This statement in verse one and two is loaded with the rising of the Kingdom of God on earth and the falling of other kingdoms.

Jesus- His name means “Jehovah is salvation” the Hebrew pronunciation, “Joshua”

Bethlehem was David’s place of birth. It was the place Micah the prophet had proclaimed:
5.2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be ruler over Israel, Whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.
Royalty had come from Bethlehem and Humility at the same time:
4 He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then His greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth. 5 And He will be their peace.

This was fulfilled during the time of King Herod. Herod was the Roman puppet King. He represented Rome, the world dominating power which brought Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, or so it was thought. God was overriding the whole thing

Herod wielded his power. Pity the people under the rule of such a man A commentator said this week that the proof democratic rule has come to Iraq was in the shoe throwing incident at our President in Baghdad this week. The reporter that did this was arrested. Under Saddam Hussein he would have been taken out and shot- no questions asked. Under the democracy he has rights which are protected. In the streets people joined with the protest. Protesters seldom realize that the very fact they are permitted to do so shows that they are free They don’t realize it...

Herod was a wicked ruler, a vicious man. He tried to deceive the Magi.

Let’s talk about them for a bit then we’ll come back to Herod. One of the things happening here is this little Baby was rocking the world powers. He still is. No government can win against the Kingdom of God. No government ever will The power of Love is a force that no one can beat. The kingdom of God endures

These Magi, wise men, or kings from Orient as a hymn calls them came to worship Jesus. They represented foreign powers. They were noblemen. Their coming was very upsetting* to Herod.
*to agitate, trouble (a thing, by the movement of its parts to and fro) to cause one inward commotion, take away his calmness of mind, disturbing, to disquiet, make restless, to stir up, to strike one's spirit with fear and dread, to render anxious or distressed, to perplex the mind of one by suggesting doubts
The reason all Jerusalem was troubled with him was because they knew when he got in this state of mind he was capable of anything. That is the price one pays for living under a tyrant. He wanted to kill Jesus as a baby.

He died but his son, Herod Antipas, had John beheaded and had Jesus appear before him in Jerusalem during one of the stages of Jesus’ trial.

King Herod’s father was a close personal friend of Julius Caesar. Both of these men were murdered. Both were power hungry.

Perhaps this contributed to King Herod being so paranoid. He worried that a baby would replace his throne so he devised a wicked scheme to get the wise men to lead him to Jesus. The deceiver was deceived. The wise men went back to their own country by an alternative route. When Herod realized this he was furious. He was angered beyond measure. He had all the boys 2 years of age and under living in the vicinity of Bethlehem put to death. It was a horrifying thing... inconsolable.

World forces were at work here right at the beginning of Jesus’ Life. They will be at the end as well before He comes as we read this week in The Revelation of Jesus Christ.

1. Contrast The King of Kings to these kings of the earth.

The kings of this earth seek to hold onto their throne and power.
Fidel Castro is nearing the end of his rule. Yet he is trying to hold on through his brother. We have watched rulers depart. Perhaps one the most dramatic was when Gorbachev lost his power as the Soviet Union was no longer a union. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 46.6 “Nations are in uproar. Kingdoms fall.”
In seeking to hold onto their power it slips right through their hands. Kingdoms fall.

Jesus left His position in heaven to come to this earth and die on a cross.
Therefore God exalted Him and gave Him the Name that is above all names.
Jesus told us that if we wanted to be great then become a servant. That is where true greatness (love) lies. Love conquers all. Jesus could have destroyed people who didn’t believe but He came to seek and to save that which was lost.

The kings of this earth are very self promoting. Not so with our King. His greatest promoters are His servants. Saddam Hussein put huge pictures of himself all over Iraq, He had a huge monument of his likeness built in Baghdad. Lenin had the same thing in Russia. Jesus left us with a feast to remember Him by which speaks of His love for us- His sacrifice. He erected no monuments, left no sculptures of Himself.

When He was a child Herod sought to kill Him. An army going after a baby. When He was a man and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane they had just a little sword among them while the Temple Guard showed up with clubs, swords and spears.

His Kingdom is not of this world.
2. Contrast the Roman Empire, the last one to dominate the earth to the Kingdom of God.

The Roman Empire fell.

Decline in Moral Values
A Decline in Public Health
Political Corruption
Economic and Financial Problems
Hoarding and Deficit The leaders were interested in themselves not the people.

The Kingdom of God stands

It is a matter of righteousness. (His Kingdom and His righteousness) Romans 14.17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit...

The kingdom has a tremendous impact for health and healing- always has- always will... Hospitals around the world... medical missions.

God sometimes must clean house- our leaders have spiritual qualifications.

Giving is a mark of being in the kingdom. We pay taxes to “Caesar” but we give to God (Mark 12.17)


3. Kings and Kingdoms will all pass away but God’s Kingdom endures forever

Our beginnings were in Bethlehem.
Least among the clans of Judah
Our king was born in manger

Our greatest victory was viewed as our defeat- when Jesus died on the cross
This kingdom is different from any kingdom on earth.

His Kingdom (as we read a few weeks ago in Revelation), and in Psalm 145.13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

You are part of this kingdom

Follow the King
Seek first His Kingdom
Pray for His kingdom to come

Joy To the World

The LORD's Day December 14, 2008

Who are Your Ancestors?

The Genealogy of the Messiah

Matthew 1.1-17

Genealogy was a big thing in Old Testament and New Testament times. Genealogy still is a big thing in the Middle East. The whole conflict over there is between the descendants of two sons- Ishmael and Isaac, half brothers, the son of Hagar and the son of Sarah. Abraham was the father of both. One was the father of the Arab people, the other the father of the Israel, the Israelites, today what we call the Israelis (and all the Jews around the world). One son was of the Spirit, the other of the flesh. One son was the fulfillment of God’s Promise the other man’s attempt to help God out. This is what wrong thinking which leans on your own understanding will bring.

Since the beginning God had promised Jesus (Genesis 3.15). From Abraham that promise became personal and part of a family, the children of Israel, the Jews. God promised the Messiah through this line. This line had special promises and people.


1. Jesus had Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David in His ancestry line.

*Abraham- the father of the faithful.
God fulfilled His promise to Abraham through His Son Jesus Christ
Genesis 12.3 “... All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Peoples= mishpachah : clan, family, tribe, people, nation

Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness. (Galatians 3.6)
God honors faith.

*Isaac, the promised son

Isaac submitted to death on Mount Moriah. His father was up in years and Isaac could have run away but he placed his life (and death) in the hands of his father.
Jesus would come to that same place and go through similar things with His Father in heaven but the Father would not take away death from His Son. Jesus died there for the sins of the whole world.

Scripture was being fulfilled. Prophecies concerning Jesus were completed that day on the cross. Even the gifts offered to Him as a young child in Bethlehem, gold, frankincense and myrrh all had to do with this day- the day on the cross.

As we shared last week the manger and the cross were tied up in the same promises of a Redeemer, the Savior of the world.

*Jacob, the heel grasper who became Israel= God prevails, governed by God

*David, Israel’s most beloved King was an ancestor of Jesus

David wrote Messianic Psalms. The Psalm of the cross was written by David (Psalm 22)
David led Israel in worship of the LORD God.

David was a comforter of broken hearts.

David was a man after God’s own heart.


2. Note the women where details are given.

Before you do that, prejudice against women is spoken against here. To include them in a genealogy was radical. It was outrageous Jesus comes and turns over things that are wrong. He upsets things that need to be upset.

But these women were not ones we would have picked (which shows how often we pick the wrong people )

Verse three Tamar, a foreigner and of doubtful morality (Genesis 38)

Verse Five Rahab, another foreigner and once a wicked woman (Joshua 2.1)
Ruth, a Moabitetess

Verse six Uriah’s wife Bathsheba committed adultery with David (II Samuel 11)


3. There were some men who fell short in this line

Abraham shows us that having faith does and being justified by faith does not mean we will be perfect.

David shows us we can have a heart for God and be a mans after God’s own heart and fall into sin if we do not guard our hearts.

Solomon shows us that we can have great wisdom but if disobey the LORD it will hurt many many people.

All have sinned and come short of God’s glory. This is why Jesus came. His Name shall be called Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.

4. Jesus’ Birth was humble. His ancestry line has both prestige and at the same time things you could not be proud over.

He relates to sinful situations. He is the King of Kings. But He is also the Friend of Sinners- What a Friend We Have in Jesus All our sins and griefs to bear

We love Him because He first loved us. He accepts us with all of our imperfections
Amazing Grace,. He take people whose lives are a mess and puts them back together

We have been grafted in... Romans 11.17 and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root

All the promises...
Galatians 3.8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: All nations will be blessed through you. 9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith....29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Because God adopts us as His children when we believe we have the line of Abraham as our genealogy. We are descendants of his.
Hebrews 2.10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

Isaiah 53.8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken... vs.9-12

Who are your ancestors? If you are a believer, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, David. If you are a believer Jesus is not ashamed to call you a brother or sister. You have God as your Father

God’s Family is made up of all who have believed on His Son for salvation.
God’s family is the family of believers.

His family is still growing and will be until the final one has come in...
Let’s keep sharing the good news!

The LORD's Day December 7, 2008

The Manger and the Cross

Luke 2.1-20

We tend to think of Christmas and Easter as two separate events which have little to do with each other. Not so! As we shared last week the Word became flesh in a manger so He could die on the cross.

The celebrations of special days for us as believers have to do with Jesus offering Himself up. At Christmas we celebrate that He humbled Himself and became a man. On Good Friday He became obedient to death on a cross. (Philippians 2)

The manger and the cross share many similarities:


1. Both were made of rough wood from the trees God created in the beginning.

They were both “inappropriate” places for the LORD to be laid. It was God’s will and plan.

The Creator was being laid in a wooden receptacle ...

In His Birth- Luke 2.7
The manger was a feeding crib for animals. Have you ever seen animals eat? They slobber. They salivate. They are messy.

Hay was laid in it.

He made the wood for this lowly receptacle. The Nativity was the Creator at the creature’s breast with animals and things He made in the beginning. Jesus turns everything around and He began to do so when He came. His life turned things upside down. No baby had ever been born this way. Jesus came in and brought glory to an unsanitary place. Feeding cribs were never looked the same way again!
He told his disciples that if they wanted to be great not to lord things over people but be the servant of all. He told them to forgive someone 70 times 7. He told them to do good to their enemies. His birth demonstrated a new order was coming. His Kingdom coming. But kings are not born this way! Of course He is no ordinary king! His Kingdom is not of this world. He is the King of kings, the LORD God Almighty.

In His Death Luke 23

He was laid on the cross. Then he nailed Him to it.

He brought a glory to the cross. He took the ancient Roman means of cruel capital punishment and made it into a symbol of victory.

If you think tying in Jesus birth to His death is overdoing it read on in Luke 2 (21-35). The day He was circumcised and named Simeon placed something in Mary’s heart that no doubt troubled her. He spoke about Jesus’ death and the effect that would have on His mother, Mary. For a mother to lose a son is horrible beyond words. There was nothing deserving of death in Jesus. He is the Life!

Not a lot of care went into wood items for animals and criminals deserving the death penalty. These were things that were thrown together. Our LORD was placed on both of them- on His birth and at His death.
What humility. God help us to humble ourselves. All of have a way to go when we look at our LORD. Linger here for a moment. Animal’s feeding crib for his bed... A means of Roman capital punishment for His death.


2. They both speak of the treatment He received while on earth.

He was despised and rejected. (Isaiah 53)

He came unto His own and His own did not receive Him (John 1.11)

The world hated Him.
He said it would hate us too- this week I was asked to do something illegal. When I said I could not the whole atmosphere of the room changed. I didn’t want to make the person feel bad but if we do what is right in a sinful world that is going to happen. The Holy Spirit is speaking to people through us living right. We are salt and light.

3. The manger and the cross were found in significant places.

The push away from a historical Jesus is not good. We do need to make the connection. The historical account must always be submissive to the Biblical account. The places in God’s Word are significant.

Bethlehem is a real place. (as Emma discovered this a week ago) It was David’s city. David remains Israel’s most beloved king. It was prophesied that Jesus would descend from David’s line. Mary was from his line. So was Joseph. It didn’t matter for the sake of descent because Mary became pregnant through the Holy Spirit but it did matter to get them 80 miles away from home (Nazareth) to Bethlehem so prophesy could be fulfilled. God many times rise His purposes out on man’s decisions. How foolish for a man to think he is acting apart from God.

Bethlehem is also Rachel’s burial place. Jacob buried her there.

Jerusalem is the naval of the earth.

Jesus died, rose again and ascended back into heaven from there.


4. The manger and the cross are part of the Christian Experience.

Bethlehem and Jerusalem are only 6 miles apart.

Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Everyone who enters the place where Jesus was born must bow.
Someone commented to me while there, “Can you imagine all the famous people who have come to this place?” Yes, but they all to had to bow.

Most people who hear the gospel and reject it, in some way or another are refusing to bow. To bow we must humble ourselves. To bow we must acknowledge God’s greatness and our sinfulness. Many people who do not believe do not believe they are that bad.

The Garden Tomb and Golgotha
The Cross in your life.
We all must carry our crosses - this is denying the sinful nature and walking in the Spirit. If we are following Jesus we are living a life of self denial.

It means offering ourselves as living sacrifices to God (Romans 12.1)

The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
God doesn’t show favoritism.

We all have sinned.
Unless we repent we will all perish.

The LORD’s Supper tells of His rejection but it also speaks of our redemption and His victory! He will drink this anew with us in His Father’s kingdom.

Look at the Communion Table this morning. On it are the two elements Jesus left us with to remember Him by: His Body, His Blood. Also on it is the Word of God in a written form and next to it the picture from the scripture that the Word became flesh- the Nativity. On the table this morning are the symbols of the manger and the cross. How He came into the world and how He left- just as it was written about Him.

Humble yourself this morning. Look at Jesus’ birth and death and you will be humbled. It is a good thing to humble ourselves. It is many times painful but always with good outcome. Don’t fall prey to the lie of the world that we need to be comfortable and pain free. Humility is the path to Christlikeness and that is our goal for this life, if we are indeed following Jesus.