Author: Don

Dear Friends,

Each year we listen to the story of the first Christmas. It is so familiar that many of us can mouth the words as the liturgists reads, “And there were shepherds living in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people …‘’ Luke 2:8-10 (NIV)

When you see a nativity scene do you think about the humility and pride of a young Mary, the courage of Joseph, the wonderment of the shepherds, and the awe of the wise men? Or, over the years have the characters in the Christmas story become more symbolic than real to you. Today we encourage you to breathe new life into this season of joy by daring to imagine what it might sound like if you were afforded the opportunity to speak with someone who was actually present at the first Christmas.

Through the Eyes of a Shepherd – Part 1

Let me introduce myself: My name is Jedidiah. I’m not named in the bible, but the name Jedidiah is appropriate because it means ‘God loves’. And truly God loves me because he let me take part in the celebration of the birth of his son.

It all began for me one night in the hills above Bethlehem – out in a field with nothing but the soft glow of a campfire.  It was a clear crisp night. Thousands of stars like diamonds on midnight-blue velvet formed an awe-inspiring canopy. With only a trace of the moon, it was dark, very dark. Then, all of a sudden, the night became like day. A near-blinding flash, and all around us we saw strange beings that glowed like burning phosphorous.

I had heard my rabbi read Scriptures that spoke of angels, but now, I knew I was in the presence of something miraculous.

We shepherds are not easily terrified – we sometimes have to fight off wolves and other predators to protect our flocks of sheep. But, this was truly beyond comprehension.

One of the angels said “Fear Not.”  Then he told us that things the prophets had written about in the Scriptures were about to come to pass;  the promised Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.

As quickly as they had come, the angels were gone, and my friends and I quickly traveled to Bethlehem to see if we could find the child. (In case you wondered, we took the sheep with us.)

In Bethlehem, we found the place where the newborn baby was. With no place else to lay her child, the mother, a sweet teenage girl named Mary, had arranged some clean straw and laid her baby in a cattle feeding trough – a manger.

Can you believe it – Immanuel – God with us – in such a humble setting?

After we had seen Mary, Joseph, and the baby, we went off and told everyone we met about the wonderful things we had seen.

I like the part where Saint Luke wrote that all who heard the shepherds story were “amazed”. Amazed? Most were incredulous.

Are you familiar with the Yiddish word Mishugena? How about foolish or crazy? how would you feel if someone approached you and said, “My shepherd buddies and I were out in a field when an angel appeared and told us about a baby who was the Messiah – the Savior and King of all Mankind? How would you react?

Fortunately, we weren’t the only ones who shared in the miraculous events surrounding the birth of Jesus. When Jesus was about two years old, Magi, or wise men, came to Judea asking, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

I’ll stop my story for now – more next week; but before I end, I encourage you to think about what the Magi said. They said, “We have come to worship him.”

This Christmas we can experience the full joy of the season by setting aside time each day to come to worship Him.

Blessings,
Your Friends in Christ

Dear Friends,

Bonnie and I recently spent the day with a group of GenXers (born 1965-1975). We were saddened to learn how few of them are believers. This morning as I listened to the final verse of the classic song “Long Long Time,” I was moved to wonder, “Does God love the people who reject Him?”

“Cause I’ve done everything I know to try and make you mine And I think I’m gonna love you for a long long time.” – Linda Ronstadt

Think about it; God has done everything he can to have us love Him.

God Prepared a Place for Us. In a December 25, 2014 column in the Wall Street Journal – “Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God” – Eric Metaxas offered evidence that God specifically designed the universe for mankind.

“The fine-tuning necessary for life to exist on a planet is nothing compared with the fine-tuning required for the universe to exist at all,” Metaxas reasoned; … “the odds against the universe existing are so heart-stoppingly astronomical that the notion that it all “just happened” defies common sense. It would be like tossing a coin and having it come up heads 10 quintillion times in a row. Really?”

The prophet Isaiah wrote about “God’s design” in the 7^th Century BC.

Isaiah 40:26 (NIV) “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”

God Made Us. According to a National Geographic article, there are 37.2 trillion cells, 78 organs, 206 bones, and at least 650 skeletal muscles. According to Wikipedia, the human eye can distinguish about 10 million colors. As Psalm 139:13 reminds us, “[God] made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

Psalm 139:14 (NLT) “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”

God Provides for All
Matthew 5:45  “For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”

Corinthians 9:10 “For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.”

The Bible Assures Those Who Love Him of God’s Love.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NLT) “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.’”

God’s Love is Offered to Everyone. The Bible confirms that he loves the whole world.
John 3:16 (NIV) ^“ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

God Wants to Draw Us to Him.
Acts 17-24a  “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of       heaven and earth … he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything  else.  God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” 

Unfortunately, Many Will Reject God
John 12:47-50a (MSG) “If anyone hears what I am saying and doesn’t take it seriously, I don’t reject him. I didn’t come to reject the world; I came to save the world. But you need to know that whoever puts me off, refusing to take in what I’m saying, is willfully choosing rejection …”

A Long Long Time
Peter 3:9 (NLT) “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some  people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

Back to the question, “Does God love those who reject Him?” As the above Scripture indicates, God is patient, wanting everyone to repent and accept Jesus. One of the ways that He shows His love is by giving everyone the choice to accept or reject His Son. Our job as Christians is not to hypothesize on God’s final judgment. Rather, we should do all we can to be a light to those who remain in darkness – because eternity is a long long time.    Blessings, Your Friends in Christ

1. For an extensive treatise on the argument for design (anthropic principle), see the Reasons to Believe website: http://www.reasons.org/articles/anthropic-principle-a-precise-plan-for-humanity.

Dear Friends,

REI, the outdoor sporting goods retailer, is trying something dramatic this year. Rather than advertising huge “Black Friday” sales, they will be closing their stores the Friday after Thanksgiving, and encouraging their patrons to use that day to get out into nature. You can bet the marketers at REI determined that opting out of the Black Friday sales mayhem won’t hurt their sales; nevertheless, it’s still a refreshing change.

As Christians, we might take a hint from the folks at REI and make the day-after- Thanksgiving our own “Thanks-Showing Day”. Why not opt out of the traditional “Black Friday” madness, and instead, make the day after Thanksgiving a day of service? Rather than following the herd seeking bargains, why not follow our hearts and seek opportunities to serve our fellow man?

But some may ask, “Can’t I serve my fellow man while waiting in line to pay for that super bargain I found at Target?” Of course you can – just target someone in line with you to be good to. The point is that Thanksgiving weekend is an especially appropriate time to use the gifts God has given us to show our thanks to HIM.

“God has also given each of us different gifts to use …  If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best. If we are good to others, we should do it cheerfully” Romans 6, 8-9 (CEV)

When we use the gifts that God has given us, and when we share the resources he has provided, the result is that praise and thanksgiving is offered to God.

^“You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” 2 Corinthians 9:11-12 (NIV)

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

We wish each of you a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and a God-pleasing Thanks-Showing Day.

Please join with us in a prayer of thanks to God – from whom all blessings flow.

Verse for the week: “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.” Romans 12:1b (MES)

Blessings,
Your Friends in Christ

Dear Friends,

After some general conversation, our new financial advisor posed the question, “What is your primary objective?” Without missing a beat, Bonnie responded, “To make sure our ‘nest egg’ doesn’t become a ‘goose egg’!”

Later we started to wonder, ”What about our ‘spiritual nest egg’? When we get to heaven, what will we have ‘paid forward’?”

As part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke about storing up treasures in heaven, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)

Since no one gets to take a U-Haul with them to heaven, what is the treasure Jesus was talking about?

The treasure is found in our relationship with Christ.
 

“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:2-3 (NIV)

So the treasures are wisdom and knowledge found in Christ Jesus. The more we come to know him, the more we can be encouraged and united in love to other believers.

What impact does this have? Once again we find answers in Colossians, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith …, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (verses 6-7)

In God’s economy, treasure is not to be hoarded, but shared. Let us join with the Apostle Paul in praying for opportunities to share the good news:

“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ.

Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.” Colossians 2-3a, 5-6 (NLT)

Our financial advisors can help us avoid turning our “nest eggs” into “goose eggs”, but the spiritual “nest egg” we leave to our family, friends and others is our love of Christ, reflected in the way we live.

Verse for the week: Philippians 4:19 (NLT) And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Blessings, Your Friends in Christ

Dear Friends,

On November 11^th, we celebrate Veterans Day – a federal holiday dedicated to men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Marines recognize November 10^th as the day the U.S. Marine Corps was born.

When a young man or woman joins the Marine Corps, he or she raises their right hand and takes an oath to protect and defend the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. Upon taking that oath, they are officially a United States Marine. Of course, once they get on the bus to boot camp, they learn that they have a long way to go before they become combat-ready Marines.

It’s somewhat like that when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are accepted into God’s Corps (His family) – but we are raw recruits, not fully equipped for the spiritual battles that lie ahead.

This week we look at two fifty-cent words that theologians like to throw around: “Justification” and “Sanctification”.  Justification is something that happens for us when we accept Christ; sanctification is something that happens to us as we grow in Christ.

In Christian theology, justification is God’s act of removing the guilt and penalty of sin, while at the same time declaring a sinner righteous through Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Justification is a point-in-time event. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” Romans 10: 9-10 (NIV). Once you accept Jesus as your living Lord and Savior, God declares you innocent of all charges – past, present, and future!

Now, going back to our Marine Corps analogy, sanctification is like going through God’s boot camp. It’s the process by which God, acting through the Holy Spirit, builds Christ-like men and women. God has a design and purpose for our lives. As we respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit, our faith grows stronger and we become equipped to fulfill God’s purpose.

The Apostle Paul wrote of the need for Christians to be well-equipped: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6: 14-17 (NLT)

In his book, The Language of Salvation, Victor Kuligan helps us understand the significance of each piece of armor presented:

The belt of truth: integrity, single-minded devotion The breastplate of righteousness: living holy and righteous lives Feet fitted with readiness: a willingness to share the gospel The shield of faith: fighting off the flaming arrows of Satan The helmet of salvation: confidence in our status as children of God The sword of the Spirit: knowing and effectively using the Word of God

We live in a world full of troubles, but Jesus left us with his Word to guide us, and with the Holy Spirit as our companion in the fight. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:15-17 (NIV)

Victor Kuligan asks, “What does it mean to be saved? It means being plucked out of danger by God and rescued from harm. It means being given the weapons of righteousness necessary to wage war against every ungodly force as we wait patiently for the return of our triumphant Lord. It means moving from defeat to victory.”

The motto of the Marine Corps – Semper Fidelis – means always faithful. Because God is always faithful, we can live “… being confident of this, he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (NIV) Verses for the Week: 1 Timothy 6:12a (NLT) “Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you …” Blessings, Your friends in Christ We offer our appreciation and thanks to veterans of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and the Reserve Forces – and a very Happy Birthday to the U.S.M.C.