Tag: Pondering our Crossroads

What Is So Magnificent About Mary Walking 90 Miles to Visit Elizabeth? Luke 1:39-45

Luke 1:39-45Amplified Bible

Mary Visits Elizabeth

39 Now at this time Mary arose and hurried to the hill country, to a city of Judah (Judea), 40 and she entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, her baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by Him. 42 And she exclaimed loudly, “Blessed [worthy to be praised] are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed [spiritually fortunate and favored by God] is she who believed and confidently trusted that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her [by the angel sent] from the Lord.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

One of the most touching moments in the Christmas narrative comes after Mary, miraculously pregnant with the baby Jesus, journeys to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, also miraculously pregnant with her and Zachariah’s son – John.

Together, the two blessed and highly favored women recognize this honor and in a miraculous moment for the ages, rejoice at the role they play in God’s plan.

The story is told in the Gospel of Luke, which contains the most descriptive information about the conception of Jesus and the impact of such a miracle.

As we read in the account, “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41).

Let’s ask ourselves -what is so magnificent of young Mary visiting Elizabeth? 

Not only does it teach us much about faith, and family, it also confirms God’s plan and shows us how we are to celebrate when we are in a similar situation.

What Has Happened Just Before Mary walks 90 miles to visit Zacharias and Elizabeth?

Before the visit, we are first told of the priest Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth, who was “righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly” (Luke 1:6).

But Luke also tells us they were beyond their child rearing years, being childless and very old, which was both a disgrace and shame at that time in their culture.

However, one day, when Zacharias was serving God in the Temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and said Elizabeth would bear them a son, John (v. 13).

Moreover, the angel said John would be a prophet in the power of Elijah, who would “turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (v. 17).

Elizabeth was overjoyed at this honor and secluded herself for a time, praising the Lord for this miraculous pregnancy and God’s favor upon her (v. 25).

Then, when Elizabeth is six months pregnant, the angel Gabriel visits a virgin, Mary, in the town of Nazareth and informs her that she is favored by God and is to conceive and birth a child, Jesus, who will be called the Son of the Most High and will reign over her people forever (Luke 1:30-32).

The angel Gabriel further explains she will become pregnant because of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High, and the “holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (v. 35).

Gabriel also tells Mary, her cousin Elizabeth is also miraculously pregnant.

Incredibly, Mary readily accepts this important role, telling Gabriel, “I am the Lord’s servant …. May your word to me be fulfilled” (v. 38).

What Does the Bible Say about Mary walking 90 miles down a roadway to Visit Elizabeth?

Right after this, we are told by the Word of God that young Mary hurries to make a long 90-mile journey to visit Elizabeth — which at that time, without vehicles, would have likely taken her at least four to five days, possibly longer.

When Mary got there, she went into the house and greeted Elizabeth.

The Bible says that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, “the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41).

Elizabeth then loudly exclaims that Mary and her unborn child are blessed and that Elizabeth is favored by the visit by “the mother of my Lord” (v. 43).

Elizabeth also joyfully tells Mary her unborn child leaped in her womb for joy.

Mary then bursts into a praise-filled song called The Magnificat, rejoices in God, acknowledges the grace she has received, declares God’s victory, and confirms for all of us this as part of God’s larger plan in the world (v. 46-55).

Question – Why Does Mary Visit Elizabeth?

We are not specifically told why she visits Elizabeth, but we can certainly imply she — having just been told by Gabriel, her cousin is also the blessed recipient of a miracle — wanted to be with someone else who could understand what she was going through, secondly, as family, wanted to be able to support Elizabeth.

Perhaps she also, filled with the Holy Spirit, was compelled to visit Elizabeth as a way of bringing her divine grace and confirmation of God’s work in them both.

Question – Why Is This Visit Magnificent?

Mary’s visit to Elizabeth is magnificent for a number of reasons:

1. Mary, and the unborn Son of God, brought God’s grace and confirmation to both of them.

Young Mary’s courageous, unescorted, unaccompanied visit was not an easy trip but a huge undertaking involving much physical risk and lengthy travel.

But Mary knew it was necessary — and the grace and confirmation it brought caused the Holy Spirit to fill Elizabeth and made the child in her womb leap.

2. It shows Mary’s indomitable faith and certain trust in God’s protection.

We know from Mary’s words to the angel Gabriel that she believes him and accepts her role as mother to the Son of God.

But her actions — making the roughly 90-mile journey to visit Elizabeth — show her faith and willingness to trust in God, be obedient to God, as well.

It’s a reminder of what James says in James 2:17, that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by giving ourselves to God, trust obedience and action, is dead.”

3. From one Generation to countless Generations – It reveals Elizabeth’s faith.

The visit also majestically reveals Elizabeth’s proclamation of faith.

The Bible tells us Elizabeth was overjoyed when she became pregnant, but when her unborn child leaped, and she herself became filled with the Holy Spirit in the presence of Mary and her unborn Savior, she did not just “marvel at this.”

Rather, she magnificently, majestically exclaimed;

“in a loud voice” that both Mary and her baby were blessed and that Mary was carrying the Lord (vv. 42-43) – she spoke her faith aloud for anyone to hear.

4.  It provides an opportunity for celebration.

Not only were they filled with the Spirit, but both the women celebrated their joy together. Mary and Elizabeth both sang their songs of deepest praise which first and foremost glorified and praised God, confirmed God’s plan for them.

5. It is a magnificent example of the importance of Christian fellowship.

Neither woman was ever going to become familiar with the word “Christian,” a term that wasn’t even going to be created until several years after Jesus’ death.

But gathering together to celebrate and draw comfort in this miracle is exactly what we should do. God’s people are supposed to be in community with each other. Not only is it helpful, but it also enables the power of the Holy Spirit.

So much is possible when we claim our God-given gifts of the Holy Spirit and like Mary we risk everything to “walk miles and miles and miles and miles” to join with and support others who have different gifts to build up God’s people.

Too often we allow ourselves to fall into bickering, division, and self-righteous
rhetoric. And while it is important to address systems and principalities that do breed and foster and magnify injustice, it is equally important to build upon our strengths and create and support vital networks of God’s transformational love.

6. Some consider this to be Jesus’ first miracle.

Many consider Jesus’ action of turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana to be his first miracle (John 2:1-11).

The Apostle John notes it was indeed “the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory” (John 2: verse 11).

However, I believe Jesus’ unborn presence caused Elizabeth to be filled with the Holy Spirit and then Elizabeth’s unborn child to leap with joy within her, which many may feel is a miracle in itself, or at least a divine act of major significance.

7. It was John the Baptist and Jesus’ first meeting.

We’re told Elizabeth’s unborn child is John the Baptist, who baptizes Jesus with water, plays an important, biblically significant role as the one who prepare the people for the coming of Messiah in accordance with the ancient prophecies .

But while as men, they reportedly don’t meet until the day Jesus asks John to baptize him (Luke 3:21-22), this moment, as unborn souls, through the work of the Holy Spirit is biblically their first meeting.

8. It shows a magnificent example of what we should do when faced with a calling or assignment from God.

In the course of our lives, God calls us to do things outside of our comfort zone, even at the risk of death, ministering into areas of cities and towns with known drug gangs, whether that is moving to a foreign land to become a missionary or taking a very unpopular stand for faith which results in imprisonment or worse.

Surely Mary could have been aghast at the perils of her new role — after all, being pregnant but unmarried might bring her disgrace or even cause her to be accused of and condemned for adultery, a high crime punishable by stoning.

But she willingly accepted her assignment and, even more, rejoiced at it. This is exactly what we should do when God asks us to do something to fulfill his plan.

Question – What Does This Mean?

The Bible tells us Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went home.

Later, Elizabeth did indeed give birth to John the Baptist, and Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Messiah.

As mothers, these women played hugely important roles in their sons’ lives, in their families lives and we can learn much from them in our own families lives.

Family, Community . . . a Reflection of Immanuel – God in Us and God within Us

Genesis 12:1-3Amplified Bible

Abram Journeys to Egypt

12 Now [in Haran] the Lord had said to Abram,

“Go away from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 
And [a]I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you [abundantly],
And make your name great (exalted, distinguished);
And you shall be a blessing [a source of great good to others];
3 
And I will bless (do good for, benefit) those who bless you,
And I will curse [that is, subject to My wrath and judgment] the one who curses (despises, dishonors, has contempt for) you.
And in you all the families (nations) of the earth will be blessed.”

Why do we become families?

Many years ago a man received a message from God, and God basically adopted this man.

Later God gave him the name Abraham, which means “father of many.”

And yet Abraham had no children.

Then God promised to bless Abraham with many children, and somehow, in some miraculous way, through Abraham’s family, God would incredibly and miraculously bless all the peoples of the earth.

God stayed faithful and true to his promises to bless the world’s peoples through Abraham, even though Abraham’s descendants were dysfunctional.

And God surprised everyone by keeping his promises through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, a descendant of Abraham.

It turns out that Immanuel, born of Mary, recognized by Elizabeth, was Savior not only for Mary, God’s adopted people, but also for all other peoples as well.

And by faith, by confessing, trusting in the salvation message of Jesus, people from all nations, tribes, and languages can also be adopted into God’s family.

So when we as family and friends gather this coming Christmas eve or day, sit at our tables in our homes, we come to the Lord’s table and it is a family table.

Just as we do not get to choose our families and all our relatives, there may well be people in our church family whom we might not have chosen are invited too.

God chose Mary and Joseph, and Elizabeth and Zechariah, He chose them—and us—to be gathered together as an essential part of telling his own family story.

So we become family to belong to God’s family but also family to each other – brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our Savior, and beloved sons and daughters of the Most High God, our Creator and at this family table there is God’s grace.

Hebrews 12:1-2English Standard Version

Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Why do we enter into community?

The writer of Hebrews spends a whole chapter (Hebrews 11) talking about “heroic” people from Israel’s past who lived by faith. And that provides encouragement to believers to keep living faithfully for Immanuel each day.

Let us remind ourselves, The Body of Christ, God’s Church in and throughout the world, Christian community, our neighborhoods and Communities of faith are so much bigger than the host of people who are geographically close to us.

It is also about believers across the miles and miles and miles of our very own small villages, towns, cities states and counties and countries and the world.

It is also inclusive of earlier generations, current generations and the future.

The generations of witnesses connects us together in one, great community!

God, the Father and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit ….

Holy One in Three …. in PERFECT COMMUNITY ….

Why do we enter into community?

Because God is in perfect community, and we are created in His image.

John 3:16-17Amplified Bible

16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] [a]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.

God loves us so much, favors us so much, that he sent his only Son, Jesus, who laid down his own life for us in order to set before us His example of family, to reveal His community, and to re-enter our community with us, His creation.

And we ought to find favor, we ought to love others so much that we enter into community again and again with love and with the hope of something greater.

Community is a reflection of God’s favor, God’s love living in us and within us.

It is who and what and why we were created to be.

Our simple family in God’s magnificent family ….

Our simple community in God’s magnificent community ….

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God Sustains His Servant.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

40 I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 
He brought me up out of a horrible pit [of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path.
3 
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear [with great reverence]
And will trust confidently in the Lord.

4 
Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not regard the proud nor those who lapse into lies.
5 
Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of your wonders,
They would be too many to count.

6 
Sacrifice and meal offering You do not desire, nor do You delight in them;
You have opened my ears and given me the capacity to hear [and obey Your word];
Burnt offerings and sin offerings You do not require.
7 
Then I said, “Behold, I come [to the throne];
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 
“I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your law is within my heart.”

9 
I have proclaimed good news of righteousness [and the joy that comes from obedience to You] in the great assembly;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips [from proclaiming Your righteousness],
As You know, O Lord.
10 
I have not concealed Your righteousness within my heart;
I have proclaimed Your faithfulness and Your salvation.
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.

11 
Do not withhold Your compassion and tender mercy from me, O Lord;
Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.

O God, my Strength, I put my trust in You. You have never forsaken those who seek You. You have never let me down. I know that You never will let me down because my life so far has become a testimony of Your greatness. Mold my witness and my testimony into Your image, and as Mary and Elizabeth held you close in their hearts, hold me just close to You. Show me how to mature as a Christian and improve on my walk of faith. Steady my trust in You so that it never wavers, no matter what battles I face on this earth. I declare that my faithfulness to You will be strong at all times. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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4 Magnificent Faith Moments When Mary Visits Elizabeth. Luke 1:39-45

Luke 1:39-45Amplified Bible

Mary Visits Elizabeth

39 Now at this time Mary arose and hurried to the hill country, to a city of Judah (Judea), 40 and she entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.  41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, her baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by Him. 42 And she exclaimed loudly, “Blessed [worthy to be praised] are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed [spiritually fortunate and favored by God] is she who believed and confidently trusted that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her [by the angel sent] from the Lord.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Why Should This Happen to Me?

Whether in those most ancient of days of biblical times or in our modern days,

Why should anything happen to anyone in the Kingdom of the Most High God?

The much needed Revelation of Faith?

The much desired Revelation of Hope?

The much required Revelation of Love?

Maybe the significantly needed, desired, required Revelation of all three?

Elizabeth was utterly amazed.

She could hardly believe what was happening to her.

Not only was she expecting a child in her old age, but she also had the awesome privilege of meeting her relative Mary, the expectant mother of the Lord Jesus.

Suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit, the previously barren Elizabeth exclaimed, “Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

Why me?

Why me, Lord? 

I’m sure many of us have asked this question at one time or another for a diverse variety of reasons.

Something unexpected happened in our lives, and we could not help asking, “Why me?”

Someone unexpected happened in our lives, and we could not stop asking the question: “Why Me?”

Someone, indescribably, undeniably special just happens to quietly walk into the middle of our busy or not so busy lives at the most in opportune moment.

Inexplicably, unexplainable things begin to change and we ask: “Why Me?”

We tend to ask this question especially when things go wrong.

Maybe we have lost someone we have loved.

Perhaps we have had to deal with a physical disability, or we were diagnosed with a terrible illness, we may have lost our job, or our business may have failed, we are in financial straights and the one question was right there:

“Why me?”

We tend to ask this question when everything suddenly starts going right.

But there is a more important question in this Advent season:

Why should we have the privilege of getting to know Elizabeth and Mary?

Why should we have the privilege of being “reintroduced,” “reacquainted” to the Presence, the intercessory works, ministry of God, the Holy Spirit, in US?

Why should we have the privilege of getting to know the expectation of the coming birth of Immanuel, “God with US, God within US, God OUR Savior?”

Why should we be so privileged that the Lord should come to earth for people like Mary and Elizabeth and US, WE who did nothing to deserve his coming?

As we approach the celebration of the birth of the Savior, we do well to ask, Why should we be so favored?

Let us stand amazed that the fullness of God should love us so much that he sent his only Son, Immanuel, to bring us back to himself, give us eternal life?

One of the central themes of the beautiful story of when Mary visits Elizabeth is the revelation of the unshakeable unquestioning undeniable faith of both these women in God – even after long numbers of years when God appeared absent.

We see this faith witness through several moments which occur during the visit.

What Is the Context of Mary’s Visit with Elizabeth?

Elizabeth was an elderly barren woman experiencing the shame in her era of being childless.

Her priestly husband Zechariah, having no child to carry on his name, might have been shamed enough by his wife’s shame to sought another wife. But he didn’t. Rather, the couple remained faithful to each other and faithful to God.

Luke 1:13-17Amplified Bible

13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your petition [in prayer] was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him [a]John. 14 You will have great joy and delight, and many will rejoice over his birth, 15 for he will be great and distinguished in the sight of the Lord; and will never drink wine or liquor, and he will be filled with and empowered to act by the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. 16 He will turn many of the sons of Israel back [from sin] to [love and serve] the Lord their God. 17 It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous [which is to seek and submit to the will of God]—in order to make ready a people [perfectly] prepared [spiritually and morally] for the Lord.”

The hard pressed Zechariah found this beyond hard to believe since he and his wife were “aged” far beyond childbearing years, so he then questioned Gabriel,

“How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

Luke 1:18-20Amplified Bible

18 And Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I be certain of this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in age.” 19 The angel replied and said to him, “I am Gabriel; I stand and minister in the [very] presence of God, and I have been sent [by Him] to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 [a]Listen carefully, you will be continually silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe what I told you; but my words will be fulfilled at their proper time.”

Just as Gabriel had prophesied, when Zechariah returned to Elizabeth, she did become pregnant and Zechariah could not speak. 

When Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy, Mary, a young relative engaged to her fiancé Joseph, was also having her own unexpected encounter with Gabriel. He visited her one night and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. Luke 1:29-38

Mary understood Gabrielle’s message that she and Elizabeth were both having miraculous pregnancies that few would understand or believe possible.

She did not hesitate but hurried off to visit Elizabeth who lived about 50-100 miles away.

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. Luke 1:39-40

Here are four significant faith moments when Mary visits Elizabeth:

1. Mary Had Faith That Elizabeth Would Welcome Her

It wasn’t by chance that Gabriel told Mary about Elizabeth.

God knew that Elizabeth was going to be the perfect spiritual mother and mentor for Mary because not everyone would accept as true either of their miraculous stories of God’s sudden, favored, supernatural intervention.

A young Mary had faith that she would find comfort and reassurance, welcome and true acceptance in spending time with her much older relative Elizabeth.

Gabriel’s mention of Elizabeth’s pregnancy compelled Mary to go to her immediately!

She wasn’t daunted by the inconvenience, time required, energy expended or sacrifice, considering she was in the first trimester of her own pregnancy.

Mary did not stop to count the cost, weigh the hardships of the travel, analyze if that was really, truly what the Lord meant, worry about how it would affect her schedule, relationship with Joseph or if Elizabeth was too old to relate to her.

Mary must have felt that Elizabeth was a safe person. She could go to her with this supernatural story and Elizabeth would receive her with compassion.

Once there, she would learn that Elizabeth had her own supernatural God story.

2. Elizabeth Had Faith That There Was a Great Reason God Sent Mary to Visit Her

Imagine Elizabeth opening the door to a teenage unwed pregnant distant relative she hasn’t seen in years.

She was going through her own hardship of being an elderly pregnant woman with a priestly husband who could not tell her why he could not speak to her.

But from Elizabeth’s response at Mary’s arrival, it does not seem like she is worried or fretted that the house was a mess, or she was out of bread, or that she looked a sight and Zechariah really was not even close to himself lately.

She did not tell Mary that there were a million things she had to do to get ready for her own baby so this definitely, probably was not a good time for her visit. 

Elizabeth wasn’t judgmental or condemning. Instead, the Bible tells us . . .

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” Luke 1:41-45

Before Mary could even explain her immaculate conception, the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth and she knew Mary was carrying the blessed Messiah.

Elizabeth began to prophesy about Mary and her baby.

She knew Mary had also believed and trusted in the Lord just as she herself had done.

Two divergent women of faith from different generations but the same God. 

We’re now Face-to-Face With God, Elizabeth and Mary: Generation to Generation,

Pray and please note that while young Mary needed someone to prepare her for long pregnancy and giving birth to the Messiah, more importantly, she needed someone who understood and had insight into what this future would entail.

3. Mary’s Visit to Elizabeth Confirmed God’s Plans 

God had a definite plan for Zechariah and Elizabeth’s, son, John the Baptist, to be the forerunner of Mary’s own unborn son, Immanuel, the future Messiah.

Upon meeting, both women, by Holy Spirit revelation, knew that immediately.

After the Holy Spirit–inspired greeting from Elizabeth, Mary’s heart filled with joy as she trusted God and she responded to Elizabeth with a Spirit-filled hymn of praise, hope, and faith which is today called the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).

And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has been mindful

of the humble state of his servant.
 From now on all generations will call me blessed,
 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
 holy is his name. (Luke 1:46-49)

4. Elizabeth and Mary’s Strong Common Bond Was Their Faith Testimony in God

Even though there was an obviously significant age gap and the women’s individual mission from God was different, their lives, their babies’ lives and their families lives, and our families lives, would be intricately intertwined.

Mary stayed for three months with Elizabeth and since Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Mary arrived, perhaps Mary even helped with the birth of baby John. 

We have the vantage point of knowing the future for both babies.

During Mary’s visit there would be great camaraderie between the two women, one very young and one very old, who were each fulfilling God’s purpose in a way that was probably difficult to explain believably to others. .

I am reasonably sure they spent a great deal of time in prayer and affirming their faith and hope in God and each other that while their experience came with certain definite hardships, the blessings far outweighed the difficulties.

We do not read any discussion of poor me or why me, only praise God it’s me!

Mary had to be overjoyed and affirmed as she listened to her older wiser relative confirm she, Mary, was blessed indeed, as are all of us who put our faith in God.

Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” Luke 1:45

What Can We Each Learn Today from These God Gifted, God Given, Faith-Moments?

There had to be many who severely questioned the credibility, veracity, and the implications of Elizabeth and Mary’s stories, but someone who has experienced something similar to us can understand our deepest concerns and even fears.

That’s why it’s so highly favorable and highly valuable that we maintain faith-filled, hope and love filled relationships where we feel safe to share our stories.

It takes real courage and “stand your ground” fortitude to stand strong and upright in what you believe when the world is trying to undermine your faith.

It’s so important for Christians to gather and worship together corporately at church, in small groups, and mentoring relationships to encourage each other, pray together, study God’s Word, and remind them that Jesus is real and alive today in every believer’s life realizing nothing happens by chance to a believer. 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah. 29:11

Luke 1:46-47, 49 (Amplified Bible)

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies and exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

Faith Is Believing in What We Cannot, Do Not, Probably Will Not, Ever Understand!

The foundation of the Christian life is the gift of faith that we freely receive by asking Jesus into our heart.

Believers should spend significantly more time than they do right now seeking and reaching out for the ever faith-filled hand of God in every circumstance.

Recognizing those timely God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit supernatural interventions and seeing purpose comes with spiritual maturity.

The Bible says that believers who have yet to see God’s involvement in their life, but still believe, will be rewarded for their patience and unquestioning faith.

But in reality, becoming a Christian, receiving Baptism and Holy Communion is the most influential evidence of a true divine revelation in every believer’s life. 

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Hebrews 11:1-3

When faith, hope and love seem impossible, all things are possible with God!

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

36 And listen, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. 37 For with God nothing [is or ever] shall be impossible.” 38 Then Mary said, “[a]Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel left her. Gospel of St. Luke 1:36-38

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” St. Augustine of Hippo

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

The Lord’s Glory and Man’s Dignity.

8 O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic and glorious and excellent is Your name in all the earth!
You have displayed Your splendor above the heavens.
2 
Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babes You have established strength
Because of Your adversaries,
That You might silence the enemy and make the revengeful cease.

3 
When I see and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have established,
4 
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?
5 
Yet You have made him a little lower than [b]God,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 
You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
7 
All sheep and oxen,
And also the beasts of the field,
8 
The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

9 
O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic and glorious and excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Lord, our God, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Savior, we ask that through your Holy Spirit we can feel something of the awe of Elizabeth. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

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Advent Week Three: “And The Word became Flesh and Lived Among Us.” “We Actually Beheld His Glory, Actually Full of Grace and Full of Truth.” John 1:14-18

John 1:14-18Amplified Bible

The Word Made Flesh

14 And the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us; and we [actually] saw His glory, glory as belongs to the [One and] only begotten Son of the Father, [the Son who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, who is] full of grace and truth (absolutely free of deception). 15 John testified [repeatedly] about Him and [a]has cried out [testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance], “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me [b]has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, for He existed before me.’” 16 For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift]. 17 For the Law was given through Moses, but grace [the unearned, undeserved favor of God] and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God [His essence, His divine nature] at any time; the [One and] only begotten God [that is, the unique Son] who is in the intimate presence of the Father, He has explained Him [and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father].

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Some of us are what we might call “truth people.”

We tend to draw firm lines between right and wrong, and we feel that we have a moral responsibility to speak up when something just does not sound right.

Sometimes this is a gift because God can use us to identify sin and injustice, urging people to bring about change.

But sometimes it hurts our relationships because we can focus on the negative and be judgmental, pushing people away.

Meanwhile, some of us are “grace people.”

We gravitate toward the idea of God’s love and forgiveness, and we don’t like making a scene or creating conflict.

Instead, we try to forgive others and move on.

This too can be a gift because God can use us to bring harmony into tough situations.

But we likewise need to be very careful not to ignore serious hurts and problems that should definitely and decisively be addressed.

In the Bible we learn what God is like in the life and teaching of Jesus.

And we see how Jesus brings the practices of grace and truth together.

Jesus is infinitely compassionate—willing to unconditionally forgive the sins of all who place their faith in him.

At the same time, he is definitely not the least bit afraid to speak a hard word of of extraordinarily hard and difficult truth to bring someone deeper into faith.

At this time and season in my life, what do need from God?

At this time and season in your life, what do you need from God?

Grace extended from every which direction into every which direction?

Ceaseless, Unrelenting, Repetitive Messages of Encouragement?

Daily Unimaginable Miracles of Indescribable Unbelievable Forgiveness?

Ten thousand Words of harshest truths to set me in the right “GOD” direction?

John 1:14-18The Message

14 The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.

15 John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”

16-18 We all live off his generous abundance,
    gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
    and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
    all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
    not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
    who exists at the very heart of the Father,
    has made him plain as day.

“I promise I will be back soon,” a World War II soldier told his young wife before leaving her and their infant son.

Four years of war and fighting went by.

The young mother would show her boy a portrait of the soldier and say, “See, that’s your daddy. One day he’s going to come home.”

In reality, she didn’t know what to expect of the promise her husband made.

One morning the boy said, “Mommy, wouldn’t it be great if right now Daddy would just step out of the picture frame and we became a whole family again?”

In a sense that is exactly what God did 2,000 years ago.

As part of his eternal plan, he stepped out of heaven and became a man so you and I could look at Jesus and say, “That’s what God looks like.”

The apostle John described the stepping out,

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 NIV).

This verse is the climax of John’s prologue as John completes his introduction of Jesus by proclaiming his humanity in the midst of his divinity.

This verse contains the truth behind the story of the angels and shepherds and their journey of witness they made to Bethlehem that first Christmas morning.

Without this singular verse the rest of the story has no meaning.

John 1:14 tells us what really happened 2000 years ago-and what it means to us today.

The key words are grace and truth.

This verse reveals four great certainties:

Jesus became human;

Jesus lived among us;

Jesus revealed his glory;

Jesus invites us to himself.

I. Jesus became human

John states, “The Word became flesh.”

Notice the link with verse one: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 NIV).

The Word that always “was” (verse 1) now became a temporal event at a point in history.

Furthermore, the Word that “was God” (verse 1c) now came into being as flesh, that is, he exists as a human being.

We often say that Jesus is God.

That is true.

But here’s an incredible statement: God became Jesus of Nazareth!

When he stepped out, Jesus Christ became the visible expression of the invisible God, He became a visual aid, as it were, to reveal the nature of God the Father.

He was God in a suit of flesh.

He was God expressing himself in a language that we could understand.

He was God announcing to the world: “I have come!”

Theologians refer to this action as the Incarnation.

This is a hard concept for us to understand.

In fact, many debates transpired in the early church as to what it really meant.

Some people said Jesus was not really a man; he just ‘looked like’ a man.

Others said he had the body of a man but he did not have a human soul.

Still others said Jesus was two people in one body-sort of half-God, half-man.

And unbelievers said it was all nonsense-that Jesus wasn’t God at all.

They claimed he was an ordinary person like you and me with a sin nature just like everyone else on planet earth.

All of those ideas are wrong.

When Jesus stepped out, the infinite God took on the form of a tiny unborn baby boy.

The Son did not cease to be God when he became a man.

He added humanity but he did not subtract deity.

He was fully God and fully man-the God-man.

Ponder that for a moment.

The Almightiness of God moved in a human arm.

The love of God now beat in a human heart.

The wisdom of God now spoke from human lips.

The mercy of God reached forth from human hands.

Jesus was God wrapped in human flesh.

Remember the story of the little girl who was frightened at night during a thunderstorm.

One dark and stormy night, She cried out to her Daddy, “Help me.”

Her Daddy in the next room said, “Honey, God loves you and will take care of you.”

Another bolt of lightning and clap of thunder caused the girl to cry out again, “Daddy!”

Her Daddy gave her the same response, “Honey, God loves you and will take care of you.”

The storm raged again and the frightened girl yelled again.

Her Daddy’s response was the same.

But then girl replied, “Daddy, I know that you love me and I know that God loves me, but right now I need someone with skin on.”

When Jesus stepped out he was God with skin on.

God became a man in human flesh.

II. Jesus lived among us

Notice the next phrase of John 1:14, it reveals the residence of God on earth, “. . . and made his dwelling among us.”

The word dwelt literally means “to pitch a tent;” or as military folks call it “to bivouac;” or as theologians define it as “to tabernacle.”

In fact, the Tabernacle was sometimes called the Tent of Meeting because it was the divinely-appointed meeting place between God and man.

In the same way-but in a significantly deeper sense-Jesus is the place where we meet God today.

Eugene Petersen in The Message paraphrases this verse,

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14 MSG).

For thirty-three years God moved into our diversity of neighborhoods.

He walked up and He walked down our alleyways streets and boulevards.

When he stepped out, Jesus lived among us.

Why?

“Pitching a tent among us” implies God wants to be on familiar terms with us.

He wants to be close to us as our skin is to us.

He wants a lot of interaction.

If you come into a community and build a huge mansion with a wall around it, you are probably saying that you don’t really want to be bothered by people.

But if you set up a tent in my back yard, you will probably use my bathroom, eat often at my table, play with the neighborhood kids.

This is why God became human.

He came to pitch a tent in humanity’s back yard so that we would have a lot of dealings with him around the campfires and firepits.

III. Jesus revealed his glory

Next John speaks of the manifestation of God’s glory: “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father.”

Again, Eugene Peterson rewords, “We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son.”

When John writes, “We have seen,” he uses a word that means to gaze intently upon, to study intently as under an electron microscope as in a laboratory.

It’s a word from which we get the English word theater.

The word glory refers to the visible manifestation of God’s presence and power.

It carries with it the idea of significant weight, authority and importance.

When Jesus stepped out, when he walked on the earth, people could see, gaze upon, God’s presence shining through him.

They saw the importance of God in their lives.

And, just so there was no mistake John recorded seven signs or miracles that openly declared the glory of God.

When Jesus turned the water into wine at Cana of Galilee, John tells us that “He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him” (John 2:11 NIV).

Jesus was not even minimally trying to be invisible nor was he obscure.

When you look at Jesus, you see the face of God.

God wants to be seen and to be known through his Son.

When you hear Jesus teach; you hear God teach.

When you come to experience Jesus; you experience God.

In Jesus we see God.

From my days as a Counselor for Homeless Veterans, I remember this talk:

An older man sat in my office and listened as I explained the gospel to him.

Finally he said, “I just can’t believe all that stuff.”

So I asked him, “What would it take for you to believe?”

I would believe if God came down, stood in front of me and told me himself!”

“My friend, he already has come down,” I replied.

“He came down 2,000 years ago and lived among us.

If you don’t believe that, then I have nothing better to offer you.”

“Go, and learn what that means ….!”

IV. Jesus invites us to himself

Finally, this verse ends with a powerful word of invitation.

It tells us that Jesus came to the earth “full of grace and truth.”

Eugene Peterson says he was

“Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”

When he stepped out, Jesus offered grace and truth.

These are the final two great pair of words of John’s prologue as he introduces Jesus.

Grace is an irresistible compulsion to give men more than they deserve which springs spontaneously from the deep, boundless, unlimited generosity of God.

Truth, on the other hand, has roots in a divine determination to be consistent, predictable, and thereby continuously trustworthy in dealing with mankind.

Grace without truth is easily seen as sentimentality while truth without grace can appear to be an inflexible rigidity.

These two words explain why Jesus stepped out, coming to the earth.

Because he was full of grace, he died for you and me while we were yet sinners.

Because he was full of truth, he was able to pay for our sins fully, completely.

Here is the good news for people like us.

Because Jesus is grace-full, we can come just as we are to him.

We don’t have to clean ourselves up first.

Because he is truth-full, you can come in complete confidence knowing that he will keep his promises.

When he promises a complete pardon for your sins, He absolutely means it.

The one present the world needs is grace and truth.

We find it in unmatched, unmatchable, abundance in Jesus Christ.

Over and over again, I have asked alcohol and drug abusing depressed homeless veterans what is constantly pushing them to the brink of life at home or streets.

Their answer is so sadly consistent that it must have a deeper meaning than we realize.

“Oh, that’s easy …. I am just no damned good,” they tell me.

Sometimes they are hearing voices, so I ask what the voices say.

“That I am absolutely worthless to everyone including me, that I should die.”

The problem is excruciatingly real as it is excruciatingly dangerous and lethal.

The problem is minutely, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, annually, perennial.

As long as humans have existed, we have always somehow sensed that we were not something that we ought to be – and never going to be who we ought to be.

As long as we have been wounded by family, friends or strangers, or enemies we have always found a way to severely devalue ourselves, to crush our self-worth.

The ONE cure for all the fractured suffering of the human heart, all the terror we visit upon one another, all the guilt we bear with bent spines our whole lives, all the horrible, condemning voices, is the fact of grace.

Grace in its simplicity, I propose, is the greatest concept in human history.

This season, we celebrate the birth of the author of grace.

He came to Earth worthless and was born into oppression and domination.

He came to a place and people broken, and in the end was broken himself.

The author of grace was told by many that he was no good, that he was a liar, that he a drunk, was useless, deluded, demon possessed and intensely mad.

Finally, he received the ultimate rejection and insult, and paid with his life.

He was broken for the broken and hated for the hated.

He was “despised and rejected,” so that the despised and rejected would have a living hope and comforter – and yet, in all of it, he announced the cure of grace.

He told us what we already knew; that we were broken and needed repair.

He told us the repair would be free for the taking, that we were all loved in spite of the voices in our heads, hands of the bullies hurting us, words of our enemies trying their harshest to crush our spirits, cruelties of our families and friends.

In bringing us grace he changed the world.

He said that we could never do enough to be truly good; but we could share his goodness and accept the gift he offered equally.

In that one fell swoop, he negated any other contingent therapy for the misery of humanity.

No wealth or position could cure our loneliness; no rule or law could overcome our weakness; no plan or good deed could earn our healing.

Only the gift He Himself brought – Only Himself.

At Christmas, Jesus shouts down the voices in our ears with:

“You are worth absolutely everything to me!

I will make you good!

You do not need to die.

I came to do it for you.

Then you will actually, truly, genuinely, really live!”

At Christmas, the cure of grace embodied came for all.

Brokenness was broken at last.

Jesus Christ, only begotten Son of God …. full of Glory, Grace, and Truth!

What are the deeper implications of this to us personally?

What are the deeper implications of this to us connectionally?

What are the deeper implications of this to us relationally?

What are the deeper implications of this to us intimately?

What are the deeper implications of this to us ULTIMATELY?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made flesh and came to dwell among us as the unique and only begotten Son of God, Who alone truly qualifies to be our Redeemer. Thank You that He was born into the human race as a man – fully God yet fully man – so that by His birth, life, death and Resurrection, He could become the singular substitute for the sin of the world. Thank You that by grace through faith in Him, I have been redeemed. What a wonderful loving Savior, full of all grace and all truth. To Him be all praise and glory, AMEN.

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How Am I Living Out all of my Joy in My Lord? Ordinary Shepherds being made Extraordinary Missionaries. Seeing all of our God’s Extraordinary Inclusiveness. Luke 2:15-20

Luke 2:15-20World English Bible

15 When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough. 17 When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child. 18 All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

David, the king who had led the nation of Israel to greatness a thousand years earlier, spent much of his boyhood as a shepherd in the outlying fields around Bethlehem.

While he was leading his father’s flocks into hills and valleys, he witnessed firsthand how a shepherd’s care is a fitting picture of God’s care for his people.

He summarized with imagery in a song he wrote, saying, “The Lord is my shepherd . . .” (Psalm 23:1).

Ten centuries after David, other shepherds were in those outlying fields outside Bethlehem, and one night they were met by a chorus of magnificent angels!

One of the angels spoke of a baby, born in the town of David, a child who was Christ the Lord.

The other angels, with voices that exploded into the night, cried out: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

God had found favor with these Shepherds. God was still shepherding his people! And now God would begin doing that through these Shepherds and a newly born baby lying in a manger who would become a Savior of His People.

Later, after seeing the child, the shepherds at Bethlehem became the Lord’s first missionaries, declaring, spreading the word about all that had happened.

God sent to the citizens of Bethlehem, simple shepherds—people trained in the not so glamorous art of tending clueless, helpless animals, not so glamorous art of defending and protecting those clueless helpless animals against predators, and thieves whose intent is clearly to cause great discomfort and harm.

With this new found purpose, the Shepherds rose up from the ground and with a newfound determination and passion and God given, God driven plan for life.

Perhaps they were inspired, pushed by God into finally believing in themselves.

Being pushed by God to finally believing they could move beyond the ordinary;

With a new found confidence in themselves, with the strength of God in them;

Perhaps they remembered the most timely words of their ancestor King David:

Psalm 18:31-35World English Bible

31 For who is God, except Yahweh?
    Who is a rock, besides our God,
32     the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect?
33 He makes my feet like deer’s feet,
    and sets me on my high places.
34 He teaches my hands to war,
    so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation.
    Your right hand sustains me.
    Your gentleness has made me great.

Psalm 144World English Bible

By David.

144 Blessed be Yahweh, my rock,
    who teaches my hands to war,
    and my fingers to battle:
2 my loving kindness, my fortress,
    my high tower, my deliverer,
    my shield, and he in whom I take refuge,
    who subdues my people under me.
3 Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him?
    Or the son of man, that you think of him?
4 Man is like a breath.
    His days are like a shadow that passes away.
5 Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down.
    Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
6 Throw out lightning, and scatter them.
    Send out your arrows, and rout them.
7 Stretch out your hand from above,
    rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters,
    out of the hands of foreigners,
8     whose mouths speak deceit,
    whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9 I will sing a new song to you, God.
    On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.
10 You are he who gives salvation to kings,
    who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.
11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners,
    whose mouths speak deceit,
    whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

12 Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants,
    our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.
13 Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision.
    Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields.
14 Our oxen will pull heavy loads.
    There is no breaking in, and no going away,
    and no outcry in our streets.
15 Happy are the people who are in such a situation.
    Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.

Lowly ordinary shepherds of Bethlehem, mightily, extraordinarily stirred up by God began to stir up their latent much suppressed curiosity, their hearts, souls and vocal cords to now announce the arrival of the Good Shepherd from heaven.

Whenever we read the story of Jesus’ birth or attend a church Christmas play, we expect the shepherds to play a prominent role.

Every nativity scene includes a cute “little angel” and “gentle shepherds.”

They are just an ordinary, traditional part of the seasonal Nativity package.

We may easily embrace shepherds as key characters in the story, but a Jewish person 2000 years ago would have found this echelons beyond incredulous.

For the birth of the Messiah, surely God would invite kings or chief priests, political influencers, scribes or religious insiders, but never shepherds.

God would not “stoop so fully, and completely, utterly low,” invite shepherds.

Shepherds were social outcasts.

They were poor, uneducated, uncultured, filthy in their hygiene and uncouth.

They were rough characters in a small town on the furthest fringes of society, so much so their testimony was not even admissible in court.

If you were with your family, walking through town, and took even minimal notice of you would very likely go to the other side of the street to avoid them.

Shepherds were religious outsiders.

Because of the incredibly disagreeable work of caring for the sheep made them ceremonially unclean, they were just not allowed into the temple courts or the temple community, no expectation to be an active part of synagogue worship.

Religious leaders often considered them on the same level as prostitutes.

When it came to religion, they were always kept on the outside looking in.

Into this most disagreeable scene of exclusion, God has just invited a group of guys who had been labeled as outcasts and outsiders by everyone, and placed them at the tip top of the invite list for the most important birthday in history.

This early in Luke’s Gospel Narrative, this introduces our ordinary existence to an extraordinary theme we will see continue throughout the story of Jesus’ life:

An extraordinary theme we should know today as extraordinary inclusiveness.

  • Jesus dines with and hangs out with religious outsiders, social outcasts, and “sinners” so much that He is accused of being a glutton and a drunkard.
  • Jesus casually crosses across the path of the much hated tax collectors, to offer them something extraordinary, which no one had previously dared: Salvation!
  • Jesus heals a man with leprosy—considered contagious and religiously unclean— by touching him. Most people would have avoided lepers altogether.
  • Jesus “crosses borders” previously, traditionally, left uncrossed, intentionally, directly, decisively walking His disciples into “no man’s land” – into Samaria.
  • Jesus chooses an inner circle of followers that includes uneducated fishermen, a former tax collector who has sold out countrymen, a zealot who wants to kill the Romans, and even a former prostitute.
  • Jesus consistently looks beyond hindrances, the shouts of the gathered crowds to see those who would otherwise not be recognized, to their needs for God.
  • Jesus sees those whom we would ordinarily push away, not associate with.
  • Jesus consistently seeks out all those who are considered social outcasts and religious outsiders and invites them all to be at the very center of His ministry.

Those who have been relegated to the outside, excluded for one rationale or reason, are not only focus of His rescue mission—they become its leaders.

The shepherds had nothing to offer Jesus.

They were not religiously trained or socially polished.

Unlike the wise men who would arrive later, they did not have exquisite gifts.

These guys lived under the stars with only the clothes on their backs, a staff to guide the sheep to still waters and meadows for food, and a rod for protection.

They had nothing of ordinary value to bring to Jesus except for themselves.

That’s exactly what He wanted, and what He still wants today.

Who are “shepherds” in your community— social outcasts and religious outsiders?

Do you believe God can use them to impact your community, point people to Him?

Can God use your “ordinary” to invite them to extraordinarily join Him in mission?

Bringing the light of God’s extraordinary inclusiveness into the not so extraordinary darkness of man’s exclusiveness – creating extraordinarily extraordinary disciples?

Edifying the Kingdom of God – that His Kingdom is the ONLY one being Revealed?

Imagine all the extraordinary “GOD” possibilities which await us ordinary people!

All of those God sized possibilities for all other “ordinaries” just made available!

Are we too, tired of our ordinary?

Are we, too, tired of the extraordinary finding another reason to pass us by?

Seeking something or someone who is a wee bit more extraordinary?

Seeking an awareness of a glory infinitely more purposeful than our own?

This close to Christmas, feeling strangely warmed by a baby in a dirty trough?

Stirred, to engage in the extraordinarily extraordinary works of the Lord God?

The Word of God for even the most extraordinarily ordinary among us says;

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 16World English Bible

A Poem by David.

16 Preserve me, God, for I take refuge in you.
2 My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord.
    Apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 As for the saints who are in the earth,
    they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god.
    Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
    nor take their names on my lips.
5 Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup.
    You made my lot secure.

6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.
    Yes, I have a good inheritance.
7 I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel.
    Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.
8 I have set Yahweh always before me.
    Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices.
    My body shall also dwell in safety.
10 For you will not leave my soul in Sheol,[a]
    neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.
11 You will show me the path of life.
    In your presence is fullness of joy.
In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen!

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O Comfort Me, O Lord; The Journey Is Too Hard! There’s a Reason for Hope! Our Unchanging God! Isaiah 40:1-11

Isaiah 40:1-11New Living Translation

Comfort for God’s People

40 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
    says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.
Tell her that her sad days are gone
    and her sins are pardoned.
Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over
    for all her sins.”

3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,
“Clear the way through the wilderness
    for the Lord!
Make a straight highway through the wasteland
    for our God!
4 Fill in the valleys,
    and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves,
    and smooth out the rough places.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
    The Lord has spoken!”[a]

6 A voice said, “Shout!”
    I asked, “What should I shout?”

“Shout that people are like the grass.
    Their beauty fades as quickly
    as the flowers in a field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fade
    beneath the breath of the Lord.
    And so it is with people.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fade,
    but the word of our God stands forever.”

9 O Zion, messenger of good news,
    shout from the mountaintops!
Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.[b]
    Shout, and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah,
    “Your God is coming!”
10 Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.
    He will rule with a powerful arm.
    See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
    He will carry the lambs in his arms,
holding them close to his heart.
    He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Without exception, each and every one of us needs a healthy dose of comfort from time to time.

The child at play who trips and scrapes her knee badly needs comfort from a parent or other caregiver.

The young man or woman at college with its unfamiliar surroundings needs someone to talk to.

Consider the teenager who comes of age and chooses to leave the comforts or the discomforts of their parents home and moves away to “test the waters.”

They are on their own for the first time in their lives – challenging themselves to “find their own way, start figuring out what this life is and can be all about.

Consider also the young couple whose first child was stillborn, the middle-aged couple whose child died in an accident, or by an act of violence or in combat in a foreign land, the elderly man or the elderly women whose spouse of however many years is slipping away because of some untreatable Cancer or Dementia.

Consider the person who for the first time in however many years is all alone during this Thanksgiving and Christmas season – where are their presents?

Consider those whose loved ones are in long term care facilities – those whose families do not seem to be around very much or very often or even if at all.

Those who are lying in Hospice care – nearing the end of their life’s journey.

Would you care to volunteer your time to sit with the dying to comfort them?

Consider the long term hospitalized children – treated for cancers in places like St. Jude’s Hospital in Tennessee – never far away from the challenging disease.

The men and women of our Armed Forces – serving in foreign lands far away from home – the veterans who served in times of war and in times of peace?

Feel free to fill in your own personal list of “cares and considerations” here.

Who will comfort them?

We all need someone who will shout “Comfort, O Comfort …” into our souls!

Our ever changing bodies and spirits, our ever changeable hearts, long to hear:

Isaiah 40:6-8New Living Translation

6 A voice said, “Shout!”
    I asked, “What should I shout?”

“Shout that people are like the grass.
    Their beauty fades as quickly
    as the flowers in a field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fade
    beneath the breath of the Lord.
    And so it is with people.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fade,
    but the word of our God stands forever.

It is not that there is a shortage of people who would not readily come to the side of an ailing friend in the hospital or come to the home to prepare meals or to clean the house or to give aid and care and comfort to that person in need.

It is not that there is a shortage of people who would readily lend someone their ears and their silences to sit in someone’s presence and allow them to ventilate.

It is not that there will ever be a shortage of people lacking in their desire to communicate the much needed and timely, timeless message of “Yes! there is always hope!”

Saying that, we must recognize that the hands and feet and heart and soul and the voices of those whose sole purpose in life is communicating hope can only go so far – can only really be effective for a tragically limited amount of time.

Humanity has its God established limits which man cannot ever set aside.

Caregivers get tired, need their rest and recreation, bodily, spiritual renewal.

The 24 hour a day seven day a week 12 months, 365 days caregiving thing has its very definite limits and boundaries which absolutely need to be held to and respected otherwise the caregiver will be the one in need of all the caregiving.

However, humanity has this unchanging, unchangeable message of true hope.

Thank God for the power and purpose and passion of our God’s Word for His beloved Children- that there is good news for great HOPE in Isaiah’s song.

God himself says, “Comfort, comfort my people. . . . Speak tenderly. . . .”

When we need comfort, we must remember, first, that God is the Sovereign Lord over all life. He will meet us in every situation with his powerful arm.

As an old hymn puts it, “Oh, let me not forget that, though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.” Never forget it! This is our Father’s world.

Second, our Father is a loving, compassionate God.

No matter what adversities you and I may be going through today, you and I can always take great comfort that like a shepherd stays with his sheep, cares for his sheep, tends his sheep, guides his sheep, God carries us close to his heart.

With such knowledge of God’s unchanging, unchangeable care for His Children, we in turn can open up our hearts and our souls and our hands and our feet too.

Giving every ounce of thanks unto God for setting the example through Christ:

2 Corinthians 1:3-7New Living Translation

God Offers Comfort to All

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 6 Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. 7 We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.

Throughout His Word, God specifically calls Himself “The God of all Comfort, who comforts us in all of our trouble.”

Why does God call Himself “the God of all Comfort?”

Because He knows His Children will suffer in this world, and He knows well His Children will constantly, continuously need His eternal “I’m always wide awake vigilance,” His forever constant, continuous, unchanging, comforting presence.

That is precisely the role He gives Himself in these verses from Psalm 121

Psalm 121New Living Translation

Psalm 121

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

1 I look up to the mountains—
    does my help come from there?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth!

3 He will not let you stumble;
    the one who watches over you will not slumber.
4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel
    never slumbers or sleeps.

5 The Lord himself watches over you!
    The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
6 The sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon at night.

7 The Lord keeps you from all harm
    and watches over your life.
8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
    both now and forever.

He is our Chief Comforter “for all of our trouble.”

Nothing is ever too big ….

Nothing is ever too small ….

We can experience His comfort now if we rest in His unchanging presence and His Word.

And there is true, everlasting and unrivalled comfort to come when God will “wipe away every tear from our eyes” (Revelation 21:4)

Revelation 21:4 gives us that very intimate and very personal image of God’s care and attention when we finally see Him face to face on that great, glorious day when we shall behold Him, when we shall finally meet Him up in heaven.

It shows his unrivalled understanding of exactly what kinds of trials we have been through and pains we have carried.

He wants to be the One who greets us in heaven, who wipes away out tears, and reassures us that sickness, sadness, uncertainty and death are all behind us.

He is not going to draft in an angel for that greeting; or even a family member we may be looking forward to seeing and meeting again past heavens doors.

He wants to be the One to receive us, give us our ultimate everlasting comfort.

In this uncomfortable world, we know the One who is our eternal comfort.

He has Overcome!

He is Victorious!

And His Kingdom can never be shaken!

That is our Strength and our Hope!

In this world which surrounds us in suffering,

We who are His beloved Children can look forward to our ultimate comfort.

We who are His beloved Children look ahead to the world where this truth is;

By the Blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, Unchanging and Unchangeable ….

Revelation 21:3-7New Living Translation

3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.[a] 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

O Comfort, O Comfort, to all of My People …. thus Saith the Lord our God!

In the name of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord Jesus, God of all Comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, bless us all today with the peace of your Presence. We thank You that You alone truly know our every pain and the aches of our hearts and souls in these difficult and most discomforting, disquieting of days. You experienced poverty and hardship, suffering like we may never comprehend, rejection humiliation and death unlike no one else in all of history. You are my compassionate High Priest, who feels real sympathy for my failures and my weaknesses; who will never leave us nor forsake us nor ever leave us as orphans. Good Shepherd, carry us through, Your tired, wearied lambs, through the valley’s of uncertainty, the rushing rivers of tears flood our souls. Comfort us with the steady beat of Your good heart and comfort us with the soft whispers of Your unchanging, unchangeable, unrivalled, unconditional love. In Jesus’ name. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Being Troubled for the Right Reason: Right Answer for the Right Question. The Right Place at God’s Right Time! Acts 17:16-20

Acts 17:16-20Amplified Bible

Paul at Athens

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was greatly angered when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he had discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place day after day with any who happened to be there. 18 And some of the [a] Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to engage in conversation with him. And some said, “What could this idle babbler [with his eclectic, scrap-heap learning] have in mind to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities”—because he was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 They took him and brought him to the [b]Areopagus (Hill of Ares, the Greek god of war), saying, “May we know what this [strange] new teaching is which you are proclaiming? 20 For you are bringing some startling and strange things to our ears; so we want to know what they mean.”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

In our Scripture text today we hear about the Apostle Paul in the city of Athens.

This Greek city was an intellectual centre of its day.

Here the philosophers, intellectuals, and students would gather to discuss the latest intellectual fads.

Athens was also a pagan city.

As many as 30,000 statues had been erected as idols to various gods in the city.

Archaeologists and Historians suggest that there were more idols in the city of Athens than in all the rest of Greece combined.

There can be no doubt that the Greeks were religious people.

They had a different god for almost every aspect of life.

They believed their gods were able to bring fortune or evil.

They had even spent the resources and built, dedicated an altar ‘To an Unknown God’ just in case they may have missed giving honor to one of the myriad gods.

It would have been easy for Paul to shy away from even opening his mouth in this pagan city.

We would understand that.

But Dr. Luke records,

“So (Paul) reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him.  Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him” (Acts 17:17,18).

In amongst all those pagan statues, the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, debated with the great teachers of Athens and the Jewish leaders in their synagogues.

This was tough going.

It was even dangerous.

Paul knew that if he was going to speak with, debate, preach, teach anyone, he had to step out of his comfort zone, and put himself at risk to speak the truth.

Let’s face it – it’s easy to hang around with Christians.

We worship the same God, the Father and God the Son and Holy Spirit.

We share the same values, and we speak the same language (that is, we all know what we mean when we talk of Salvation, Redemption and Holy Communion.

It is natural for us to gravitate towards the people who are more like ourselves.

Paul had a lot to do with his fellow Jewish Leaders and Christian friends and the congregations that were scattered around in most of the large towns and cities.

When he was in Athens, we notice that (as was his tradition) Paul first of all had deep discussions with both Jewish leadership & Gentiles who worshipped God.

 It’s worth noting how Paul intentionally stepped out of his comfort zone to share the Good News with those who were caught up in pagan ways.

Notice what I said about Apostle Paul’s actions – they were intentional – they were deliberately, innately made, a decision to make the most of the moment.

To hesitate, to stall, to put it off, would mean a lost opportunity.

Think what would have happened if Paul (who made all that effort just to get to Athens) hesitated, said to himself, “I’ll wait for a while and see what happens”.

Maybe you, like me, have let what we know to be a decisive moment go by and afterwards regretted not saying or doing something when we had the chance.

Paul followed a general pattern as he traveled.

Upon entering a city, he would go first to the local Jewish synagogue.

At some point, he would explain from the Scriptures about Jesus, the Messiah.

Some Jews and Godfearing Gentiles would listen carefully, ask their questions, Paul would answer and they come to faith, but others would leave and oppose Paul and angrily stir up crowds against him as he taught in the marketplace.

Apparently they did not want to risk “offending” any of the myriad known and unknown gods and idols and the myriad of “high priests and temple leaders.”

No one was going to be allowed to upset or disrupt their accepted “status-quo.”

To quiet the mobs and stay safe, (perhaps even to stir up debates there) Paul often had to leave, and the pattern would repeat when he went to another town.

In Acts 17, however, we see a change in the pattern, though. Paul went to Athens while Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea a little longer.

In Athens, Paul went to the synagogue and then to the marketplace, and some Greek philosophers brought him to the Areopagus, where ideas were debated.

When addressing the intellectuals of his day in the city of Athens, Apostle Paul discovered that his audience of hearers and listeners had been influenced by two fundamental ideas: Stoicism and Epicureanism.

The Philosophy of Stoicism holds that the events of the world are determined by a merciless, cold, and impersonal fate, while the Philosophy Epicureanism teaches that what is good is determined by what will bring the most pleasure.

Neither one of these philosophies hold up for the children of Almighty God.

One of the most distinctive features of Christianity is the way in which we are able to articulate our view of the world.

In contrast to much of the diverse culture around us, we know that every single second of our lifetime rests in God’s hands (Psalm 31:15)—that we’re neither trapped in the grip of blind forces nor tossed about on an ocean of chance.

Whether people have been drawn in by Marxism, Hinduism, nihilism, or any one of countless other philosophies and religions, they are all faced with myriad questions and hosts of complex nuances, insecurities, regarding their beliefs.

Have they been caught in a struggle for a classless society or in an endless cycle of birth and death?

Perhaps they’re convinced that overall, life has really little to no meaning at all.

No matter someone’s simple, complex or “unanswerable, or imponderable” their questions or hardcore beliefs are, God provides every answer they need.

Instead of their feeling as if they are living life caged by a senseless, uncaring fate or endless uncertainty, as believers we now believe with unfailing hope.

“Since you cannot do good to all, you are to give special attention to all of those who, by the sheer accidents of time, or of place, or circumstances, are brought into and unto a closer connection with you and God.” – Saint Augustine of Hippo.

We need to be especially deliberate and intentional when it comes to talking and debating about our Savior Jesus to unbelievers or those who have fallen away.

Like Jesus at the Samaritan well and Paul in Athens we need to be deliberate about connecting with those who are not part of the Kingdom of God.

Of course, there are risks – being ridiculed, being called a religious freak, having your physical body attacked or imprisoned or feelings hurt, but as is often the case when someone needs rescuing, there are risks and dangers.

If we are not so deliberate, if we are not intentional, then we can easily lose a golden “GOD” opportunity to speak God’s truth when it was needed the most.

We, like the Apostle Paul, those first, first century and early Biblical writers of the subsequent centuries, are now stewards of all the answers God has given us through His word—answers we must share with all the “Athens” of the world.

He has given us a great confidence, and the greatest answer: His name is Jesus.

The question, therefore, is not whether we have a message that can answer the deepest longings, most imponderable answers to impossible questions of every human, the various objections of every other philosophy and religion: we do.

The question is whether we will get all on fire for God and share that message.

Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth. Rev. John Wesley

When Paul was in Athens, he saw what others did not see, he did not enjoy the impressive touristy sites or stand in awe of the city’s intellectual reputation.

Quickened by the Holy Spirit, Paul saw a city lost in idol-worship, and “his spirit was provoked, “stirred up mightily” within him,” for every time an idol is worshiped, his, our, Savior Jesus, is robbed of the glory that He alone deserves.

“So,” without any regard for his own personal reputation, Paul reasoned with and proclaimed the gospel of resurrection hope to the inhabitants of that city. (Acts 17:18)

So, the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, jumps into the life of the city of Athens,

And with both feet securely cemented upon the Rock, Foundation of his Savior Jesus Christ and with a full throated oratory second to no one, talks about God.

He says:

• God made the world! Since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not need even one temple to live in – let alone hundreds if not thousands of them.
• God gives maximum life in abundance and breath to all living creatures.
• God created all the people of the world and gave them countries to live in.
• God is above all things and doesn’t have any particular needs that can be satisfied by the words of human wisdom, works of human hands and feet.
• God is not, never will be far away from any of us, wants people to seek him.

Can you and I see what Paul has done for the rest of us on Mars Hill here?

He hasn’t hit them over the head with a whole lot of ‘Jesus talk’.

He has said very little that the learned teachers of Athens would disagree with.

He has built a relationship with them.

They are becoming curious and they are growing more curious by the moment and by the thoughts which are being freely expressed in that very public forum.

They are listening.

God is working ….

The Holy Spirit is weaving the words and simple truths of Jesus into their souls.

They are agreeing.

Paul knows that you can’t come in cold and expect people to listen to the important message he has to tell them. He first built a rapport with them.

The often overlooked if not completely, deliberately ignored truth: There are lots of people in our lives which we have never taken the time to get to know.

While out walking, we can stop to talk to the new neighbour who is washing his car, or we can stroll on by.

We can linger around after church and talk to people we hardly know, or the stranger who is visiting for the first time, or we can ignore them.

At the local restaurant where we sit down to lunch after church to discuss the days worship and the days Scripture and the impact of the Pastor’s Sermon,

There will be a host or a hostess – there will be a server – someone to take our order – who might just “randomly” find themselves “within easy earshot …!”

“Are you busy today?” What is the Chef’s Special for Today?”

“What do you personally recommend we try today?” “How is it with your day?”

When they casually ask, “is that all, will there be anything else for today?”

Try responding … “Yes! there is one more thing – “How is it with your Soul?”

And “SNAP!”

In that exact instant – without saying God, the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit …

God, the Father and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit “introduced themselves!

Who knows what opportunities might arise in your conversation to share your faith, or how you can help when a crisis arises and they come seeking your help.

Wherever you live, wherever I live, in one way or another we will inevitably find ourselves in a modern-day Athens – whether geographically or by the internet.

What are the myriad of idols that those around you are worshiping?

Is your spirit provoked by that?

You have an answer that satisfies human longing in a way no idol can.

You have an opportunity to bring glory to God.

With whom can you reason today?

Can I share with you of the God who brings meaning and hope to life?

Can I tell you about the answers I have found in coming to know Jesus Christ?”

Paul took this opportunity to draw people’s attention to the “unknown God” that was mentioned on an altar nearby.

Paul was “greatly distressed” at seeing so many idols in Athens, and he wanted to tell risk it all, tell everyone about the true God whom they all needed to know.

When was the last time your heart was distressed and troubled in this way?

We live in a world of idols today too.

The idols of social networks, technology, individualism, materialism, greed, money, political and military power, and so much more are all around us.

There are “tons and tons” of people, inhabiting “tons and tons more” places who are and who have “tons and more tons” of those imponderable questions which no one else can even begin to provide reasonably ponderable answers to.

There is only just one with all of the answers to every imaginable, imponderable question we may have the courage, the intentionality, be able to imagine to ask:

John 14:5-6 (Amplified)

5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “[a]I am the [only]  Way [to God] and the  [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

We can follow Paul’s pattern of engagement, or we can scroll on through life …

Some may appear to “fall asleep” during the Pastor’s efforts at teaching them.

Others may just come across as “being polite” or “completely disinterested.”

There is always one inescapable truth which the Apostle Paul always knew …

No matter how “unknown” that “unknown god (unknowable GOD) is to the people who do not yet know Him or do not desire to ever get close enough …

God never slumber or sleeps …. Psalm 121

There is no place anyone can ever hide from God …. Psalm 139

God is ALWAYS coming to His Garden, ALWAYS looking for you and there is nothing or no one who can ever hide anything from Him … Genesis 3:8-13

For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth so that He may support those whose heart is completely His. 2 Chronicles 16:9a

God is going to do whatever it is God is going to do … Isaiah 55:10-13

And even if we somehow thought we were clever enough or wise enough …

There is not one thing anyone of us can do about any of what God does for us.

May God give us the courage and the wisdom through the Holy Spirit to seize the moment to speak clearly and appropriately and deliberately, intentionally, about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is life and gives life and salvation.

Let God guide us as we make better use of those small windows of opportunity.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord God my Father, Creator and Author of my life, Giver of all Wisdom, I need You. Lord, I feel held back by my timidity and fear of what others think of me. In times when I should speak up, I remain silent. And because of this, I feel like I let You down. Help me to show sure confidence in You and to be bold in saying what needs to be said. I ask I be granted the courage to not let others talk over me. Please ease my fears that others will dislike me because of my words. Give me the wisdom to speak truthfully and sensitively. You are my #1 source of boldness and strength. Amen.

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Our Crossroads and God’s Roadmap. Jeremiah 6:16 and Matthew 7:13-14

Jeremiah 6:16Amplified Bible

16 
Thus says the Lord,
“Stand by the roads and look; ask for the ancient paths,
Where the good way is; then walk in it,
And you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

Matthew 7:13-14Amplified Bible

The Narrow and Wide Gates

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to [everlasting] life, and there are few who find it.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Just because a certain path seems right does not mean it’s the right one to take.

But that does not mean it is wrong either.

We must, therefore, ask and trust God to show us which way to go.

He knows the end from the beginning.

God will lead us in the right way.

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11.

What a wonderfully assuring thing it is to believe that even when we are faced, confronted by the biggest and most difficult decisions in life, the Word of God for the Children of God makes known to us the sure paths that will bring life.

WHAT ARE CROSSROADS?

Literally, a crossroad is a road that crosses another.

It is the place where two or more roads intersect.

Figuratively, to be “at a crossroad” is to be at a stage in one’s life when it is necessary to choose a path that will affect one’s life in truly profound ways.

A crossroad is a place of decision.

It is a place of doubts and questions.

A crossroad is a place where we wrestle with conflicting voices.

It is a transit point.

A crossroad is a gate or access point.

It is a place of separation and goodbye.

A crossroads is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another one.

A crossroad is a critical moment.

It can be a place of crisis, where the pains of yesterday connects us to the hope of the coming tomorrow.

A crossroad is a place of opportunity, where the road ahead offers promises.

A crossroad is a point in your life where you have several options that you need to weigh.

Each option on each crossroad will lead you to a different destination or goal.

Each path on each crossroad will to a different destination.

Crossroads are unavoidable.

Crossroads are inevitable.

Every day, we make significant decision that will affects our lives positively or negatively.

The choice to continue the same straight path is no longer possible.

A decision has to be made.

The straight road has now split into two or more.

Which decision will you make?

Looking left, right, back from where you came, and looking straight ahead.

Where do you turn?

Do you turn back to where you came, choose a path to follow, or do you stand around in the middle of the road and continuously scratch at your bald spot?

Which road is the right one?

And carefully, prayerfully weigh the consequence of choosing a decisive path?

Today, you may be standing at a crossroad.

Your crossroads could be one to decide your ministry or career path.

It could be the start or end of a relationship.

Your crossroad could be a choice of making a change right now or if you wait too long it might just become “too late” – whatever “too late” means to God.

It could be the choice of what course to study for what career field in college.

Do you make a choice of asking mom and dad – about entering into the military, or do you just go ahead on your own and enlist, ask for mom and dad’s support.

Your crossroad could be whether to start a business or hold on to your job.

It might be starting a relationship with that “special, lifelong someone,” and doing the career thing or to get married and starting a family of your very own.

Perhaps you are in a crossroad where you are faced with the decision to stay where you are or move on to another place – to another job or career field.

Perhaps it might even be a decision to finally put in your retirement papers.

Whatever pathway you decide to take, it will definitely affect the course of your life and destiny for an indeterminate period of time.

Are we ready for that “indeterminate period of time” right this exact moment?

When standing at the crossroads, the one thing we really need is guidance.

God definitely has set aside a path for us which leads to life! (Psalm 16:11)

He promises to guide, instructs, direct us when we are at the crossroads of life.

“Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.” Isaiah 30:21.

God will always give you and me a direction to take in life.

But you and I still need to sharpen our hearing ability.

Matthew 7:13-14Amplified Bible

The Narrow and Wide Gates

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to [everlasting] life, and there are few who find it.

The parable of the two gates pictures the people of Earth walking on two roads.

One road is broad, and many walk that way.

The other road is narrow, and few find the gate to it.

These two roads don’t lead to the same place (Matthew 7:13-14).

We are fond of dividing the world into two.

We speak of the rich and the poor, but there are many people who are neither rich nor poor.

We speak of the bosses and the workers, but many people are neither, and some are both.

We speak of the educated and uneducated, but some people have education yet lack wisdom, whilst some uneducated people are very wise.

This just shows that dividing the world in two, or even three, is usually presumptuous, simplistic, inaccurate, and perhaps even alienating.

But does this apply to all cases?

In particular, is the world divided into the saved and the unsaved —those in God’s way and those following Satan?

Many folks would call that a presumptuous, simplistic, inaccurate, and alienating view of the world.

Only Two Ways

Rabbi Jesus, however, here divides humanity in just that manner: people are travelling either the broad road to destruction or the narrow road to life —just two groups and no exceptions (Matthew 7:13-14).

Later in that chapter, he again divides people into two groups: the wise who hear and do his words (Matthew 7:24), and the foolish who do not hear and do his words (Matthew 7:26).

On a later occasion, Jesus spoke of how he will, at the last judgment, separate the people of all nations into two “as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:32-33).

The “sheep” at his right hand will inherit the kingdom prepared for them (Matthew 25:34). 

The “goats” at his left hand will be sent into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). 

When these two groups have gone their way, nobody else shall remain (Matthew 25:46).

So, when Jesus pictures the two gates, or two builders, or the sheep separated from the goats, he has included all human beings.

Each of us is on one of those pathways.

Or to point the finger, you, I, are in one of those groups. 

Which one?

The Way of the Many

Not only has Jesus divided the world in two, but appallingly, he has numbered those who are on the road to destruction as “many” and those on the road to life as only a “few” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Why are there “many” going in at the wrong gate, walking on the wrong road?

Jesus gives no reason for the number.

He does not even indicate that the number cannot be changed.

He leaves it open that the majority could walk the way to life, and only a few walk the way to destruction, or for that matter everyone could walk the way to life leaving deserted the road which leads to inevitable destruction.

When Jesus says, “enter by the narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13), presumably he means anyone who listens to him say that, can make the choice do exactly that.

Why would Rabbi Jesus tell everybody to enter by the narrow gate, and walk the narrow way, if most of them cannot do that?

You might say, “Jesus does give the reason why many go down the broad way.

The word translated narrow means difficult.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/mat/7/13-14/t_conc_936014

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2346/kjv/tr/0-1/

It’s the nature of human beings to choose what’s easy, not what’s hard.”

Well, I am not so sure.

People do all kinds of things that are difficult because they think those things are right, they enjoy the challenge, they deem the reward well worth the effort.

Surely the Christian life is a worthy challenge, and brings a wonderful reward, such that you would expect many more people to choose it than actually do.

Choosing Destiny

Anyway, there is nothing compelling people to follow the broad way leading to destruction, even though most people do.

Destiny doesn’t force people to follow one of the two roads.

They choose the gate they enter; they choose the road they walk; hence they choose their destiny.

There is nothing preventing people from following the right way leading to life, even though few do.

The Way of the Few

Although Jesus speaks of two roads, only one of them is of his making.

Jesus never desired that there be a road to destruction, and he never caused anyone to follow it.

The broad road represents a way of living designed by Satan.

Jesus provides an alternative way, represented by the narrow road.

When Jesus says, “enter by the narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13), he refers to the gospel way of living.

In early times, Christianity was actually called “the Way” (Acts 19:9,23).

In fact, Jesus called himself the way: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6).

Seeking the Way

When Jesus mentioned the narrow gate and the difficult path beyond it, he said, “And few there be who find it” (Matthew 7:14). 

There are two ways you can find something.

One is to stumble upon it by some fortunate circumstance; the other is to seek it by making an intelligent and systematic search.

Rabbi Jesus tells us which way to find the gate to the true way: 

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7 NASB).

Total Commitment

We can gather from this that walking the narrow way means making an absolute and total commitment to Jesus Christ.

It means loving him, obeying him, depending on him, worshipping him, giving all of us to him, being his utterly committed and utterly devoted disciples.

And where do we start?

The Holy Spirit tells us clearly what to do to begin this journey, as follows…

DIVINE GUIDANCE and DIRECTION!

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.” Psalm 23:1-2.

When God is your Shepherd, you have access to all things that you need.

Divine guidance is God having the final say in running the affairs of your life.

When He’s leading, you are never alone.

God has a definite blueprint for your life and a road map to get you there.

WHAT TO DO WHEN AT LIFE’S CROSSROADS?

1. Know God.

Do you know Him?

Most people know about God, but they don’t really know Him.

To know God is to spend time with Him.

It is a relationship!

To know God is to obey Him.

To know God is to fear Him.

To know God is to trust Him unconditionally.

You must have a continuous daily fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

2. Be known by God.

Are you a child of God? (John 1:12-13)

Is Jesus your Lord and Savior? (Romans 10:9-13)

You must be born again. (John 3:1-15)

3. Pray the prayer of enquiry.

Prayer of enquiry is prayer for insight, guidance and direction.

It is asking God what to do about a particular situation.

Prayer of enquiry is to know God’s will concerning an issue.

It is a prayer to ask God why? Which? How? and When but NOT Why?

Ask him to give you ears to hear and eyes to see the ways He is speaking to you.

Consider fasting occasionally to help you focus more on God.

4. You must have faith.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight:” 2 Corinthians 5:7.

It is not for those who will walk by sight or logic.

Have unconditional faith in God’s promises to guide you.

5. Cultivate the presence of God through praise and worship.

Praise invites God into your situation immediately.

And where God is, there is liberty and fullness of joy. (2 Corinthians 3:15-18)

He will guide you when you give Him high praise and worship.

6. Dig deeper in the Bible.

The Bible has been rightly defined as, “Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth.”

The Bible is our spiritual GPS, always available to tell us which way leads to where we want to go and how to turn around if we get on the wrong path.

7. Be humble. Psalm 25:9.

He leads the humble in justice,
And He teaches the humble His way.

God loves humble people

8. Cultivate quietness.

Set aside a consistent time every day to meet with God.

Try starting out with a half-hour quiet time, and after you’ve developed greater intimacy with Him, increase that time to an hour.

It usually takes about five to ten minutes during the start of your quiet time to clear your mind enough to focus fully on God, so do not rush your quiet time.

9. Practice unconditional love.

Live without unforgiveness, malice, bitterness and anger.

10. Listen.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27.

God can speak through the following ways:

His Word. Psalm 107:20.

Audible voice. Genesis 12:1;

Dreams. Judges 7:13.

Visions. Genesis 46:2; and Prophets. Ezra 9:11.

Let your heart be still. Psalm 46:10

Block out the distraction.

Tune in to heaven’s radio.

11. Seek wise counsel

To some people, crossroads are places of confusion.

Don’t be afraid to ask for directions and seek wise counsel from family, trusted friends, a pastor or counsellor.

12. Be patient; Don’t be in a hurry.

No matter how long it takes, be confident that God has heard your prayers and will respond. Let your mind be at rest. Don’t try to rush through the process.

“Show me your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.” Psalm 25:4.

There is comfort in knowing God is guiding, leading and instructing us, especially when we are standing on crossroads.

But not many people are willing to ask for direction.

Come to God today!

Don’t live your life on logic, human reasoning, and trials.

It will only lead you to broken heart, failures and disappointments.

God has a better plan.

Don’t take steps on your own or make important decisions without asking Him.

Always strive to know the will of God concerning everything you are doing.

SO, WHAT’S OUR DECISION?

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14.

There is no neutral ground.

The Lord Jesus, who on the Cross at Calvary made the greatest sacrifice for us at the crossroad of Golgotha, said there is a broad road that leads to destruction and a narrow road that leads to eternal life.

What road have you chosen?

If you realized you are on the wrong road, why not repent and get on the right road today?

If you are willing to repent and surrender your life to Jesus Christ, then pray this prayer right now:

LORD Jesus, I come to You right now. I know I am a sinner, please forgive me my sins. With my mouth, I declare that Jesus, from today, I accept You as the LORD of my life. Change my heart from a disobedient heart to a heart that will obey You. With my new heart, I believe that it is because of me that You came into this world; You died for my sins, take away my problems, fill me with Your Holy Spirit, write my name in the Book of Life, and make me brand new in Jesus mighty name.

PRAYER POINTS

1. O Lord, have Mercy for placing my confidence in human reasoning, in Jesus name.

2. By Your Mercy, O Lord, save me from every wrong decision I have made, in Jesus name.

3. O Lord, open up my spiritual understanding, in Jesus name.

4. O God, teach me deep and secret things, in Jesus name.

5. O Lord, thank You for the revelation power of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus name.

6. O God, remove from me every form of distractions that has blocked my spiritual eyes and ears, in Jesus name..

7. My Father, give me the spirit of revelation and wisdom in the knowledge of You, in Jesus’ name.

8. Open my spiritual eyes, O Lord, to see visions concerning my life, in Jesus name.

9. I reject the manipulation of the spirit of confusion, in Jesus name.

10. My Father, guide and direct me in knowing Your mind, in Jesus name.

11. If . . . (mention it) is not Your will for me, O Lord, re-direct my steps, in Jesus name.

12. Thank God for answering your prayers.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit …..

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