God live among us to bring the highest form of Glory in our lives!

This is my prayer for you in this 2014 Christmas Season:

May the God of Peace give His peace to you. May He speak to YOU!

For God lives among us to watch over the flock, God lives among us to declare good news, and God lives among us to bring the highest glory possible. 

Do you hear him speaking? 

 

This past week a preaching friend of mine, Nick Vipperman made this statement; “Maybe you are holding on to so much in your clutched hands that God cannot give you something new.” I agree and I also ask, “Could it be we are so cluttered with the noise of the world, the busy, Christmas bustle, and noises of the Season that God is not able to be heard?” 

It is not God that has stopped speaking…it is that you and me...we have stopped listening. Do you hear it…he wants to watch over the flock of the humble, he seeks to present a message of good news; he wants to declare his highest glory in your life.

You know I love ya, Don

God Lives Among Us To Bring Us Good News!

Luke 2: 10 proclaims, it is a heavenly message of astonishing good news and joy.
“And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid: for behold I bring you good news of great joy which shall be for all the people;”

The angel, using the dialect which the people of that time and place, spoke, "Do not be afraid," My presence and this revelation contains nothing that should cause you to fear but it is a message of love, hope and faith. The fear of the eternal unseen universe, which lies coiled like a sleeping snake in all hearts, is now being taken away by the incarnation. We can now know what the sovereign God is like, and, far more than that, we can even know Him.

Many people today hear these words about "GREAT JOY" but don't understand them. They relish the season as they decorate their homes, shop in cheerful malls, attend festive parties, and exchange gifts with the ones they love. But after all the excitement subsides, they feel empty and joyless.

Others don't like the season at all. Many have no money for gifts or decorations. Some have no friends with whom to celebrate. Others are so depleted by all the running they have no energy to enjoy the season. The atmosphere of cheer around them actually deepens their feelings of sadness. Maybe this is your year of great grief and sadness. There is someone missing this year. It could be a job, or death, or simply the end of a dream.

The problem is that we wrongly identify the "great joy" of which the angel spoke. It is found not in the superficial fun but in the deeper meaning of the season. No listen, it is not that celebrations, carols, candles, lights, and cookies are bad…they are just not to be the focus. I love them as much as anyone. YET, When Jesus was born, God became a man so that He could save us from our sins and give us the joyful prospect of eternity in heaven. That's the true reason for joy. The shepherds went back to the cold nights and loneliness of their vocation, but they were "glorifying and praising God" (Luke 2:20).

The real meaning of Christmas is “good tidings of great joy which is for all people." Yes the Good News is for all people, not merely for those who heard this proclamation but for all people everywhere. God lives among you and me! We are not alone. We are surrounded by the presence of God and He is speaking if we are willing to listen.

Are you listening? 

You know I love ya, Don

God lives among us to watch over the flock!

In Luke 2, verse 8 the scene changes from the manger to the fields, from the humble Savior to lowly shepherds. “And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night.”

“In the same region,” in the area near Bethlehem of Judea, where the Christ Child was born. "There were some shepherds." Shepherds were among the lowest groups on the social-economic scale. Their occupation made it difficult for them to obey the Rabbical law. So the first public proclamation of the good news was to social outcasts. [It demonstrates that no matter how insignificant you may think you are, God knows you, & you are important to Him. All throughout Scripture God honors and uses people & things that the world often overlooks or ignores (1 Cor. 1:26-28a).]

These shepherds were on the night shift. They were keeping watch over their flock by night. The dark backdrop of night made the brilliance of the angelic appearance all the more vivid.
Since this flock was so near Jerusalem it may have been destine for sacrifice in the Temple. There is beautiful significance in the thought that the Lamb of God born in Bethlehem's stable was the Lamb of God destined to be sacrificed for the sins of the world was announced to shepherds watching flocks destined for sacrifice.

The tranquil night is suddenly changed in verse 9 by a heavenly messenger. “And suddenly an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terribly frightened.” It all happened with dramatic swiftness, one moment the quiet sounds of a still night, the next a strong, holy angel of the Lord stood before them in brilliance making the night brighter than day to their unadjusted eyes. They had not noticed his coming for the angel made no visible approach.

Thus “the glory of the Lord shone around them.” Glory is used many ways in Scripture and it almost defies definition. Here it was a supernatural light, a heavenly brilliance regarded as the manifestation of God's presence and power flashing all around them.

"They were filled with terrible fright" for they could not bear the holy glory. Although they were devout men, they were still sinners and this experience of the holiness of God had burst upon them unexpected. The word indicates great fear or reverential awe. They were awe-struck. The people of Israel were awaiting and expecting the Davidic King yet these shepherds, as does everyone else, expect it to be revealed to someone else, to some other person or some other generation. God lives among us to Watch Over the Flock… God lives among us to reveal his concern over us…God loves us! 
 
What is God revealing to you that you think should be revealed to someone else? 

You know I love ya, Don

All in Who You Know...part 3

The Angels invitation is to the truth that Jesus is the LORD.

By virtue of Christ creating all things (John 1:3; Col. 1:16-17), He has the right to rule. It is the Hebrew word. 'adon', means one possessed of absolute control.

C.S. Lewis writes of the Lordship of Jesus as; “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Jesus: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.'

That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

Jesus is the Lord. 1 Corinthians 8:6 states: “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”

The text does not say that the Shepherds were not exclusively the recipients of the message. They just happened to be the ones listening. Doing their jobs of watching over the sheep. Doing that which no one else would do. Remaining faithful to the job at hand. It also doesn't say they went to worship. The text demonstrates the shepherds as going to check it out. Luke 2:15, “the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” Shepherds were poor and outcasts. If a multitude of Angels had just shown up at your work place to make an announcement and an invitation, we would probably want to check it out. Hey, there might be some money in it.

Upon their arrival, they met God. Luke 2:17-18 states: “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”

Once the shepherds had met Jesus, they couldn't contain themselves any longer. Luke 2:20 records, “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Once you have heard and receive the invitation of Jesus arrival, you cannot help but share it with others. The question then becomes:

Do you know Savior?

             Do you know the Christ?

                          Do you know the Lord?

Your invitation is now...it is all in WHO you know!

Merry Christmas and You Know I love YA!!! Don

All in who you know....Part 1

 The Angels invitation is to the truth that Jesus is the Savior.

"Savior" means one who saves, delivers, rescues others from peril, danger, or calamity. Last week we saw in Matthew 1:21 The Angel tell Joseph: “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” and 1 Timothy 1:15 states; “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” Jesus's arrival is about being saved.

When I was in college, I would reward the end of a semester by going to a movie in the largest theater at the Cine'polis in Orange County. One theater had over 1000 seats and the sound was outstanding. I would go to the early matinee and there would be a dozen of us in this huge room. It was usually 12 retired seniors and me. I never took much interest in what was playing, but that it was playing in this large room with great sound.

This one particular morning. I arrived and there were the 12 or so others. Then they opened the side door and had bused in 1000 high school students. I thought...oh bummer, here goes the movie. I had no idea what “Schindler’s List” was. When they started the film, it became so quiet and it wasn't until the end of the three hours that you could hear some quiet sobs.

The film Schindler's List chronicled the heroic efforts of a German industrialist named Oskar Schindler. Through his unselfish activities, over a thousand Jews on the trains to Auschwitz were saved. After Schindler found out what was happening at Auschwitz, he began a systematic effort to save as many Jews as he could. For money, he could buy Jews to work in his factory which was supposed to be a part of the military machine of Germany. On one hand he was buying as many Jews as he could, and on the other hand he was deliberately sabotaging the ammunition produced in his factory. He entered the war as a financially wealthy industrialist; by the end of the war, he was basically financially bankrupt.

When the Germans surrendered, Schindler met with his workers and declared that at midnight they were all free to go. The most emotional scene of the film was when Schindler said good-bye to the financial manager of the plant, a Jew and his good and trusted friend. As he embraced his friend, Schindler sobbed and said, "I could have done more." He looked at his automobile and asked, "Why did I save this? I could have bought 10 Jews with this." Taking another small possession he cried, "This would have saved another one. Why didn't I do more?" Schindler was a savior to these people.

One day Jesus is going to split the eastern sky and come for His own. It will not matter then how much money we have in a mutual fund or how many bedrooms we have in our homes. The temporary satisfaction we have in vacations and nice cars will be gone. The only thing the will matter is if we accepted the invitation to accept Jesus as our personal savior. The Only thing that will matter is if you are on Baby Jesus'

Ephesians 2:4-5 states: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Do you know the truth of grace....For unto you is born this day a Savior...

Merry Christmas, Don