An Indescribable Joy, An Undeniable Presence: We Were Made to Reflect the Glory of the Lord! Created in the Image of God to Shine Forth! Exodus 40:34-38

Exodus 40:34-38Amplified Bible

The Glory of the Lord

³⁴Then the cloud [the Shekinah, God’s visible, dwelling presence] covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory and brilliance of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud remained on it, and the glory and brilliance of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁶In all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out; ³⁷but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey on until the day when it was taken up. ³⁸For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.

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

“I just want to give all the glory to God.”

We’ve all heard athletes and artists on T.V. who have made this statement.

After winning a championship, or a Grammy, they point it all back to God.

Their words are correct but what does that mean?

At the end of the day, we are either living for God’s glory or for our glory.

We are either building God’s kingdom or building our own kingdom.

Making Jesus famous or living to make ourselves famous.

Our goal as Christians should be to make Jesus famous.

Living for God’s glory simply means living for Jesus and inviting Jesus into every area of our lives.

This means that our aim should be to please God in all we say and do.

It is this posture and attitude of praise and worship which brings God glory.

We go to church and we bring the weight and the burden and the glory of all the stuff which occurred during the week prior – all of our personal stuff, all of our family stuff, all of our children’s stuff, all of our work stuff and after worship we hope to leave church with a significantly less burdened shoulder and soul.

We have all had experiences where we have left church on Sunday or a worship retreat or Bible study of some kind, felt the presence of God as we worshiped Him – a wonderful experience and we did not ever want that feeling to end.

But yet, how long does it take until we fall back into sin or go back to living like before – our shoulders are burdened again, our backs and souls are bent over?

Usually not too long – Monday morning – thirty seconds before our first coffee.

If the presence of God was visibly and tangibly around us before that first cup, and again all day, every day, do we think we’d fall into the same trap of sin?

By the time we walked out the door of our house and to our vehicles to start the day, we were reflecting the glory of that first cup of coffee and not that of God?

Before you’re too quick to answer, let’s look at the cloud of the Lord and Israel.

The Bible tells us that throughout all of Israel’s journeys, the glory of God’s presence was continually with them – in quite a remarkably tangible way.

They could see His glory in the cloud that filled the tabernacle by day and fire was on it by night.

From the moment they left Egypt all the way through the books of the prophets who foretold of yet another exodus out of Babylonian captivity, the Cloud of the glory of the Lord our God held both great theological meanings and functions.

It represented the following, and probably much more in their ancient context:

guidance and leading Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness into the promised land (Exodus 13:21; Numbers 14:14, Nehemiah 9:12; Psalm 78:14)
a sign that the nations was to break camp and continue their journey or to stop and set up camp (Exodus 40:36-37; Number 9:17-23)
protection from Pharaoh and his army (Exodus 14:19-20)
the personal presence of God/the angel of the Lord was among them (Exodus 13:22; Exodus 14:19, Exodus 14:24, Exodus 40:38, Numbers 9:15-16)
it summoned them together to battle (Numbers 10:34-35)
it summoned them to together to prayer, praise and worship (Exodus 33:10)
it both concealed God glory and was a manifestation of it (Exodus 16:10, Exodus 19:9, Exodus 19:16; Exodus 20:21, Exodus 24:15-18, Exodus 34:5, Deuteronomy 4:11, Deuteronomy 5:22)
provided revelation (Exodus 33:9, Psalm 99:7)
a dwelling place of God (Numbers 9:18, Numbers 9:22, Numbers 10:11)
God dwelt over the mercy seat (Leviticus 16:2)
a visible manifestation of God for installing the 70 elders and Joshua into service (Numbers 11:25, Deuteronomy 31:15)
inaugurated the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35)
provided shade from the sun and protection from storm (Number 10:34; Psalm 105:39, Isaiah 4:5)
at night it became a pillar of fire to give them light (Exodus 14:20)

Wherever they went, the cloud of the glory of the Lord their God led them.

And still, despite God’s obvious presence the nation ended up turning to idols.

As they left Egypt and met God at the mountain, they stood as a nation and said they would do what God wanted them to do – they would obey his commands.

They said that God would be their only God and they would be His people.

They said God’s glory would be their only glory and that glory would shine!

But when Moses goes to the top of the mountain for 40 days they get Aaron to make a ‘god’ – a Golden Calf – for them to serve and to pray and to worship too.

When God recognizes what is going on, He nearly removes an entire mountain in rage, Moses is left to try, convince God the people are still worthy of mercy!

Throughout the Hebrew Testament those ancient Israelites struggled mightily with idol worship – nearly all of the ancient Prophets condemned them harshly.

Bringing this into the New Testament,

Bringing this into the time of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus our Savior …

John 14:1-12New Living Translation

Jesus, the Way to the Father

14 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. ²There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.^[a] If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?^[b] ³When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. ⁴And you know the way to where I am going.”

⁵“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. ⁷If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is.^[c] From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

⁸Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

⁹Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? ¹⁰Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. ¹¹Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

¹²“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.

John 14:23-26New Living Translation

²³Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. ²⁴Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. ²⁵I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. ²⁶But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

Ephesians 2:11-22New Living Translation

Oneness and Peace in Christ

¹¹Do not forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. ¹²In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. ¹³But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. ¹⁵He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. ¹⁶Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

¹⁷He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. ¹⁸Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

A Temple for the Lord

¹⁹So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. ²⁰ Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. ²¹We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. ²²Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

As believers, God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwells within us. (John 14:23)

We are His temple. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

We are carefully joined together in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

Together, we the Body of Christ, are His house, built on the foundation of the Apostles, the words, deeds of the Prophets – Christ Jesus is our cornerstone!

Yet, I cannot help but wonder ….

Even in these most uncertain of times when our faith is tested every which way to Sunday by the glory of our socio-economic, socio-political shenanigans’ ….

Why should our hearts be nearly as troubled as those of the ancient Israelites?

Are we any less different than those ancient Israelites with our own idols?

Are we more or less worthy of our own condemnation for our idol worship?

If it came right down to it, if we were brutally honest with ourselves, whose glory do we reflect and shine forth- that of our idols or that of the Lord God?

If each of us walked around God’s neighborhood with the cloud of the Lord by day and fire by night as a meter for how much our lives reflected God’s glory, would there be a big cloud or a tiny one or worse yet, a totally empty blue sky?

Would the fire by night be burning bright or just a little flicker or not at all?

The glory of God isn’t just a feeling, an event or an Old Testament experience—

Its a towering spiritual tsunami of everything contained in the character of God.

The word glory is literally translated “heavy weight,” meaning the heaviest, biggest, grandest thing about someone.

It has been called the manifested presence of God, but it is far more than just a presence, it’s power.

The kind of power which redeems, resurrects, delivers, overcomes, transforms.

It is infinitely greater and infinitely stronger than any other power in existence.

And it belongs to us.

Yet, maybe you feel like the glory of God is untouchable, unreachable.

Maybe you think of the manifestation of the glory of God as something reserved for special church services or an extraordinary circumstance.

All the while, though, you long to see the power of God manifest in your life, your family, friends, communities, neighborhoods, church and your country.

But did you know that the glory of God is available to you 24/7?

It’s built-in.

That’s how God designed it—it’s how He designed you.

Because you were born of God (John 1:13), that glory is inside you right now!

All things that the Father has—including His glory—belong to you and to me.

This means His glory isn’t too far out of reach.

It’s right within your grasp!

Below are four ways you and I can tap into the glory of God by faith.

Look for the Glory

“But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God.” –Acts 7:55, NKJV

If we aren’t expecting to see the glory of God, we probably won’t reach for it.

Just like anything in the kingdom of God, it takes faith to see a manifestation.

The glory of God is a visible power.

In the Hebrew Testament, the glory appeared as a cloud, smoke or fire.

This visible power is also known as Shekinah glory, which is the Hebrew name given to the presence of God dwelling on the earth.

The nation of Israel saw the glory when God came down to meet them on Mount Sinai.

Exodus 24:17 (KJV) says, “The sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount.”

The prophet Habakkuk got a glimpse of that fiery glory, too.

He described it as like the sun, blazing in the sky:

“His brightness was as the light; he had horns [or shafts] coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power” (Habakkuk 3:4, KJV).

The same glory that raised Jesus from the dead was manifested as fire by night and a cloud by day in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21).

This same glory separated Israel and the land of Goshen from the rest of Egypt when there was light in the land of Goshen, but not in Egypt (Exodus 10:23).

What was that light?

The glory.

The glory of God’s presence.

Can we see those same physical manifestations of God’s glory today?

Yes!

There are countless testimonies of individuals and groups of believers having seen visible evidence of God’s glory – up to and including both yours and mine.

Pray for the Glory

“For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” –Romans 8:18, NKJV

How do you pray for the glory of God?

First, pray that the glory will be revealed to you and in you.

You and I can see and experience the glory of God, but we must diligently ask and seek for it to be revealed.

When we pray the glory into the earth, miracles, signs and wonders will occur in the Body of Christ, God’s own Church and in our own personal lives also.

When Moses saw the glory of God, he asked, saying, “Please, show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18, NKJV).

When believers gathered together in a spirit of unity, seeking the Lord, the glory appeared in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost, and sat on the head of each person there (Acts 2:1-4).

Each born-again believer has the ability to manifest God’s glory here on earth, but we must steadfastly believe when we fervently pray. (James 5:12-18)

That’s why Jesus told Martha that if she would believe, she would see the glory of God (John 11:40).

Finally, pray Ephesians 1:17-18—that you would know the hope of His calling, which is the hope of His glory.

Pray that you will understand the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

When we inherited Him, glory was deposited in us, but we have to receive revelation of what it means to walk in that glory.

Prepare for the Glory

“…the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” –Romans 5:5, NKJV

Did you know there are degrees of the glory?

If we want to experience the fullness of God’s glory, we must prepare our spirit.

How?

By walking in faith hope and love. (Romans 12:10-13, 1 Corinthians 13)

It takes faith to receive and operate in the glory—and faith works by love (Galatians 5:1-7).

That means the glory of God will increase in us in direct proportion to how we walk our walk and talk our talk all in the maximum glory of God in His love.

So, to increase the amount of the glory in your life, we must walk in love.

Put simply—more love, more glory.

The spirit of strife and division is always there, lurking and looking for an opening and a way into your life and mine.

Never, ever let our love guard down!

Then you and I are on our way to being filled with the glory!

Walk in the Glory

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” –2 Corinthians 3:18, NKJV

The glory of God looks for a dwelling place.

The original house for the glory of God was the tabernacle.

But under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit builds a temple in every believer.

First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (NKJV).

We are God’s house—His temple. Only, this temple is no longer in a fixed location.

This is a house where serious amounts of multi-tasking takes place ….

This house can walk and talk and live and love and correctly preach the gospel!

Now, it’s one thing to have the glory, but it’s another to know how to walk in it.

The good news?

You and I have everything you and I need inside you and me to do so.

When the believers experienced the glory of God at Pentecost, they didn’t just go back to living normal lives.

They emerged from that place as separate from the rest of the world and as light in the midst of darkness.

They went out and started turning the world upside down for Jesus.

They preached the gospel; worked miracles, signs and wonders; and the Lord added thousands to the Church daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:47).

That’s the glory we need to be operating in!

The early Christians were no different than Christians today.

But here’s the key: Those first believers received the same Spirit we did when we got saved and baptized with the Holy Ghost.

Christians today are carriers of God’s glory just as surely as they were!

When we walk in the glory of God, we have a fire in us which the devil himself cannot withstand. (John 1:1-5)

We are told to put on the armor of God, which includes the shoes of the glorious gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15).

There’s glory in your feet and in mine!

That’s what gives you and me the power to walk on Satan.

That’s why the only thing the devil is to the Church is a footstool.

Start practicing these four ways to tap into God’s glory by looking, praying, preparing and walking, and watch the glory of God be revealed in you!

Don’t live without understanding God’s glory and what it means to your life.

Start saying by faith right now:

“The glory is in me! I receive it! I’m walking in it!”

Get more God-inside minded,

Start acting, being, doing, like a glorious temple of the Lord of glory today!

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

Let us Pray,

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Alleluia! Amen.

Heavenly Father, you have called me to glorify You, to model a life of love and service and sacrifice to those around me. Teach me to live and minister in Your glory, to love and serve my fellow believers, neighbors, coworkers, and those you have brought into my sphere of influence. I realize I have been uniquely wired and placed where I live and work. Teach me to love well. You are my perfect example of walking in love. You sent your son to die on the cross for me. Teach me to be sacrificial in how I treat and love those around me. This brings you glory, and my heart’s desire is to bring you the recognition you deserve. I pray the world will see your love in me. I long to bring you glory through the way I treat each person. Help me to see everyone as humans made in your image. And help me extend the love that’s been extended to me through your son Jesus. It’s in Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Father, fill us with your glory and may it go forth, shine bright in a lost world that desperately needs you.

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Hark, the Herald Angels and Shepherds Sing: “The Glory of the Lord has Shone All Around Them.” Luke 2:8-11, Luke 2:12-20

Luke 2:8-11Amplified Bible

⁸In the same region there were shepherds staying out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord flashed and shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for ^[a]all the people. ¹¹For this day in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (the Messiah).

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

The way all too many of us approach Christmas has not changed in years.

Consider this illustration I just received from a friend ….

A family during the great depression was unable to afford anything but the bare necessities, and even then, barely.

One day the news came that a circus was coming to town.

Tickets cost one dollar.

The little boy came running home excited with the good news and eager to get the money from his dad, he jumped up onto his fathers lap as he read the paper.

The father regretfully told his son that he could not provide him with that much money, but if he went out and worked on some odd jobs, he might make enough to purchase a ticket on his own.

The dad promised to match what the boy could earn.

The boy worked feverishly around the neighborhood and, just a few days before the circus came to town, he found that he had just enough, including his dad’s contribution, so, He took the money and ran off to town to buy his circus ticket.

The day the circus came to town, he grabbed his ticket from his dad and rushed out to the main street, where he stood on the curb as the circus parade went by.

He was so thrilled to watch the clowns, elephants, and all of the performers. A clown came dancing over to him and the boy put his ticket in the clown’s hand.

He eagerly watched as the rest of the parade went by.

After the parade, the boy rushed home and told his father that he had been to the circus and how much fun it was.

The father, surprised that the boy was home already, asked him to describe the circus.

The boy told of the parade that went down the main street and of giving his ticket to the passing clown.

The father sadly took his son in his arms and said,

“Son, you did not see the circus; all you saw was the parade.”

That boy reminds me of myself and so many other people at Christmas time.

They get caught up with “stuff of the season,” the carols, trees, lights, gifts.

They think that they are experiencing what Christmas is all about.

But the reality of it all is this, all they are doing is seeing the parade passing by and do not realize they are missing the main event, the true joy of Christmas.

More importantly we go through life thinking everything is good with our souls – we walk like ducks, smell like ducks, quack like ducks but we are not ducks…

get the picture?

Good time to remember that the first Christmas night:

“The glory of the Lord shone around them”

This season of Christmas let us be more aware, make it about God’s glory.

Luke 2:8-11Complete Jewish Bible

⁸In the countryside nearby were some shepherds spending the night in the fields, guarding their flocks, ⁹when an angel of Adonai appeared to them, and the Sh’khinah of Adonai shone around them. They were terrified; ¹⁰but the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, because I am here announcing to you Good News that will bring great joy to all the people. ¹¹This very day, in the town of David, there was born for you a Deliverer who is the Messiah, the Lord.

Let’s go through the passage and comb through to learn…

We will make pit stops and pickup 7 words to help us take it in.

I. LUKE 2:8. SHEPHERDS

“IN THE SAME REGION THERE WERE SHEPHERDS…”

The greatest event yet on the face of planet earth has just happened in Bethlehem; and we read that in that “same region” there were shepherds.

A. Same region:

i. In the same region: The divine dignitary shares the same space.

I understand the narrative requires this telling but I had to pause to take it in.

This is the first pit stop.

Let me explain what caught my attention…”same region”

This ‘divine dignitary’ invited the shepherds to share his space —“in the same region”.

ii. In the same region: Translation = This was David’s city.

The fields were probably the same area where he kept watch – fought the lion and killed the bear and confronted with God’s aid, the Philistine giant Goliath.

Now in this same city is now born another Shepherd like no other.

A shepherd who is also a lamb – the Lamb of God. [John 1:29; John 10:11].

B. The Shepherds:

i. The Status

Shepherds were the lowest on the social ladder.

They lived in the fields and cared for the sheep 24/7 and so could not keep the Mosaic law, the Sabbath, the other traditionally required temple ceremonies.

Not very different from all those long years ago from a land called EGYPT.

Genesis 46:33-34Complete Jewish Bible

³³Now when Pharaoh summons you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴tell him, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth until now, both we and our ancestors.’ This will ensure that you will live in the land of Goshen — for any shepherd is abhorrent to the Egyptians.”

“Shepherds were an utter abomination to the Egyptians”. Genesis 46:34.

They were infinitely worse than social outcasts.

ii. The privilege accorded to the shepherds

Why is this important?

Many years later when Jesus begins His ministry we read how crowds were amazed at Jesus’ teaching.

…”How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” [Jn 7:16].

This statement was not about being literate but about being a Scholarly Rabbi which took years of disciplined learning.

They had come to believe only such will receive and explain the revelation of God.

This first Christmas the privilege accorded to the Patriarchs, the Pharisees the Priests and the Rabbis was now granted to shepherds.

The first proclamation of the glad tidings was to those who were poor and social outcasts.

C. Fulfillment of the Isaiah 61 Prophecy

This beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 61 starts with the lowly shepherds.

This is what the Lord reads in Nazareth when the scroll was given to Him.

“The Lord has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor,” [Isaiah 61 / Luke 4 / Luke 2].

“IN THE SAME REGION THERE WERE SHEPHERDS…”

All praise and thanks be to God that even today just as the shepherds, you and I are invited to “the very same region,” watch the Divine unfolding, centre stage.

Then this story that happened 2000 years ago is something you and I can be a part of.

II. SILENT NIGHT

LUKE 2:8. “…KEEPING WATCH OVER THEIR FLOCK BY NIGHT.”

This is our second pit stop.

It was a ‘silent night’ as the carol goes.

That night seemed no different from any other night – except of course that the hands of Almighty God pulls apart heaven’s veil for all those glorious moments.

However, on earth it was a different story.

There were political and social rumblings that’s worth noticing.

A. Augustus Caesar’s taxation:

Luke Chapter 2 opens with the news of taxation.

Bethlehem was probably swarming with ‘Censees’ and ‘Censors’—those who came to give their census and those who were there conducting the census.

However, I sincerely doubt that the census experience was a pleasant one.

Years later as Luke’s readers would read or hear about the birth of Jesus they would be confronted with the context or the time when Jesus was born; and it would have undoubtedly brought up past memories that were not pleasant.

Let me explain:

i. Taxation changed from ‘kind’ to ‘coins’:

Paying taxes in kind was acceptable in some sense by the Jews but the coins contained the image of Caesar which led to a revolt by Judas and his bands.

Acts 5:34-37English Standard Version

³⁴But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. ³⁵And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. ³⁶For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

Gamaliel refers to Theudas when confronted with the issue of Peter and John and the Council determining the acceptable disposition of the other Apostles.

Theudas and his group had believed God will give them victory for opposing the coin taxation since they were standing up against idolatry.

However, the uprising was squelched by the Romans.

The Jewish rulers were increasingly cautious not to upset the Romans and thus lose their temple and their land and their livelihoods if not their very lives too.

But the issue of coin taxation continued to be a contentious even 30 years later.

Luke 20:19-25English Standard Version

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹⁹The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. ²⁰So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. ²¹So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality,^[a] but truly teach the way of God. ²²Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” ²³But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, ²⁴“Show me a denarius.^[b] Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” ²⁵He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

That was the ‘trap’ question that Jesus was asked, “Is it lawful to pay tax to Caesar?”

We know the Lord’s classic answer –

whose image does it bear? And whose do you bear?

Luke 20 verse 25: He said to them “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s ….”

ii. Poll Tax:

Poll tax is a tax not on the income of the person but on the number of heads in the family.

Apparently Joseph was not a ‘clever’ businessman but an obedient servant.

Joseph did not wait till after the census for him to avoid having to pay for two additional heads.

2000 years ago we read about the timing, Quirinius was governor of Syria, the lives of all those so affected are wonderfully connected to the Gospel narrative.

Truth be said: Whether AD First Century or our 21st Century the incident that occurred that silent night is something that will 100% change our lives forever.

Get this:

It is in the ‘light’ of those darkest socio-economic, socio-political moments the rest of the first Christmas story unfolds before every single coming generations.

We can be thankful to God the silence of that night [indicative of the silence for the past 400 years of the inter-testamentary period between Malachi and the Gospels] was torn apart by the angels long awaited announcement of Messiah.

III. SH’KHINAH OF THE ADONAI [GLORY OF THE LORD]

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. [Luke 2:9-10].

This is our third pit stop.

A. NOT THE GLORY OF THE ANGEL

In the two appearances of Gabriel, Gabriel prefaced his announcements with “fear not”.

While we do not know the identity of this angel, we still hear the phrase “fear not”.

However, we are now not confronted by a “mere” angel but by the glory of the Lord – which is certainly, definitely, a more fearful experience than any other.

We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, about their Mt. Sinai experience that the children of Israel had:

Hebrews 12:19. and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.

Here now for the first time, the revelation of God’s glory was with ‘glad tidings of great joy’.

• A ‘terrible thing’ that froze the feet and the vocal cords of their fore fathers and killed their priests, suddenly, is now, an indescribable matter of great joy.

B. UNDERSTANDING GLORY

We have a terrible time wrapping our head around the theme of “Glory of God”.

i. What is Glory?

Manifestation of His holiness

Isaiah 6:3. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, the whole earth is full of His… [not holiness] but glory.

• Glory of God from this passage is the inherent quality of God.

• Glory is the manifest beauty of God’s holiness.

No wonder it has been a terrible thing.

How could sinful men ever meet a glorious God?

God’s answer is Jesus Christ.

ii. Glory of God in Jesus Christ

Though we cannot know what the shepherds experienced that night,…

We too are given the privilege to experience the glory of God in Jesus Christ.

We read:

Hebrews 1:3.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and

• the exact imprint of his nature,…

John 1:14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory,

[whose glory?]

• glory as of the only Son from the Father,

• full of grace and truth.

A PASSAGE BY REVEREND DR. JOHN MAC ARTHUR:

Excerpt from: Thou Long Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas.

“..…God only whispers in His creation. He revealed a shadow of His glory in the Shekinah. But He speaks with absolute clarity in his Word.

“God…spoke” [Hebrews 1:1] – and not in a whisper but in full voice.

Still, there was an incompleteness in it all until,

“[God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. [Hebrews 1:2].

Now that is God shouting.

You cannot mistake it.

John 1:1-5Amplified Bible

The Deity of Jesus Christ

1 In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (^[a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and ^[b]the Word was God Himself. ²He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. ³All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. ⁴In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. ⁵The Light shines on in the ^[c]darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].

Christ is 100% God, and you see every attribute of God manifest in Him: His judgment, His justice, His love, His wisdom, His power, His omniscience.

It is all there in person as we read and study and pray through these Gospels, we see Him physically walking through the world, working His work, living His life.

The fullness of God may be seen as it was never seen before in Jesus Christ.

Who is Jesus Christ?

He is the glory of God. He is the “express image” of God’s glory.

He is the embodiment of the brightness of God’s glory. [John 1:14].

Jesus is the shining forth of God.

– Just as the bright untouchable radiance of the Sun reaches the earth to light us, to warm us, to give us life and growth, so in Christ do we sense the warmth and fullest radiance of the glorious light of God touching on the hearts of men.

– The sun is never without its brightness.

The radiant brightness of the sun cannot be separated from the sun and yet it is distinct.

And so, Christ is God and yet distinct.

– He is God and yet He is the manifestation of God.

– He is the glory of the Lord who shouts the reality of God, which was only whispered in time past.

God’s answer to the dilemma of sin is Jesus Christ – the glory of God made manifest in human flesh.”

We are thankful that the Son of God became the Son of man that first Christmas.

C. No common ground

In the old Hebrew covenant, when the glory of the Lord came down, all business stopped.

• Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle [Exodus 40:34-35].

• When Solomon built his temple for the Lord as a place to offer sacrifice and the glory cloud came down, the priests were so overwhelmed with its presence that they could not do their priestly duties. [1 Kings 8:10-11].

In the old covenant the glory cloud and the presence of the Lord did not abide in the same space that was occupied by men.

Moses: The glory of the Lord left Moses wanting more. Even though Moses had personally witnessed such astounding miracles and the coming of the cloud on Mt. Sinai, on the Tabernacle, his true longing was to see the glory of the Lord.

He had to be “merely satisfied” with “seeing” the “back” of the goodness of the Lord, and obviously ONLY after the Lord fully passed by where he was standing.

D. A promise that “all flesh will see the glory of the Lord”

Isaiah 40:3-6.

The first part was fulfilled by John the Baptist [Luke 3:4-7]; and the later part by Jesus Christ though its complete fulfillment is still in the future.

A voice cries:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, the rough places a plain.

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

E. This coming of the ‘glory of the Lord’ is the good news of great joy

The angel announces the Gospel – “the euaggelizō”.

The original expression is: “I evangelize unto you great joy”.

• Jesus is the “Good news”

• Jesus is the matter of great joy.

• Jesus makes possible for the revelation of the glory of God to all flesh.

In Jesus, heaven’s gate have been opened wide – the news is to “all people”.

• You are now no more the outcasts of the society.

• You and I can now become the citizens of heaven.

IV. THE SAVIOR

Luke 2:11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

A. The gift: Jesus is our Christmas Gift

• “Unto you”: God’s gift to us on Christmas day is Christ Himself.

• Born…City of David: Christ is born in the city of David, so that Psalm 87 will be true for us with regards to the city of God:

Speaking about the city of God,

we read in Psalm 87.4.

“This man was born there.”

This possibility for man and woman to be born in the City of God opens up because of the incarnation, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

• Christ the Lord: Your savior is Christ the Lord.

He is Immanuel, God incarnate.

B. The Result: Our transformation, as we “Behold the glory of the Lord in Jesus Christ”

2 Corinthians 3:18. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image [the image of Christ] from one degree of glory to another.

John Owen: One of the greatest privileges and advancements of believers, both in this world, and unto eternity, consists in their beholding the glory of Christ.

If the glory of the Lord does not grip our attention exactly today and in this exact world, we are exactly eternally lost.

C. The Warning: Consequence of rejecting the glory

Woe to the one who rejects the glory of God made manifest to us.

We read in Romans chapter 1.

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (Romans 1:22,23, NASB).

Earlier, we read about the children of Israel:

Psalm 106:20. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of a golden ox that eats non existent grass.

The nation of Israel, having seen and experienced the glory of God thought Him being no more glorious than a golden calf utterly incapable of eating or moving.

The natural expression of glory of God is praise that must bubble over; an over zealous thanksgiving that cannot, under any circumstance, ever be contained.

• Anything less is spiritually dangerous.

• Anything less indicates that we are still dead in our sins.

Luke 2:12-20Complete Jewish Bible

¹²Here is how you will know: you will find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.” ¹³Suddenly, along with the angel was a vast army from heaven praising God:

¹⁴“In the highest heaven, glory to God!
And on earth, peace among people of good will!”

¹⁵No sooner had the angels left them and gone back into heaven than the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go over to Beit-Lechem and see this thing that has happened, that Adonai has told us about.” ¹⁶Hurrying off, they came and found Miryam and Yosef, and the baby lying in the feeding trough. ¹⁷Upon seeing this, they made known what they had been told about this child; ¹⁸and all who heard were amazed by what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹Miryam treasured all these things and kept mulling them over in her heart. ²⁰Meanwhile, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen; it had been just as they had been told.

V. A SIGN

Luke 2:12. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

This is our fifth pit stop.

Sign is “Semeion” in Greek means the “finger-marks” of God.

A. The paradox

Not sure if you caught the paradox of this passage yet?

Paradox ….

a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.

a statement or proposition that, despite its sound (or its apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems utterly senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory.

Shepherds had just seen the great display of Divine glory.

What could be the next possible steps?

• That they would have expected now to be invited to the palace?

• That they would witness the transformation of Bethlehem – the city of David because the Messiah is now here?

We all probably expect to see something that would top this experience or at least something that somehow or in some minimal was, almost matched it.

Instead, they are invited to go and find “a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger”.

Notice 3 things that’s in stark contrast to what they just observed:

a. It’s a baby.

• How can a baby be a savior? The Christ?

b. In swaddling cloths

• A baby just like any other. For they were all wrapped just the same. You wouldn’t be able to identify the Messiah if laid in a nursery together.

• If they had not witnessed the grand spectacle they would never have identified this baby as the Savior of the world.

c. Lying in a manager

• Something is terribly wrong with this picture – a picture framed by human mindset.

Notice: the revealed Glory of God by His angel armies on one hand; and the humility of a lowly mom and dad, the baby in a feeding trough on the other.

No wonder we sing:

Wisdom unsearchable, God the invisible. Love indestructible in frailty appears.

Lord of infinity stooping so tenderly.

Lifts our humanity from our own lowly troughs to the heights of His throne.

O what a mystery meekness and majesty.

Bow down and worship for this is your God.

Beloved Brothers and Sisters,

Cherished Sons and Daughters of the Most High God,

This is our God.

B. The sign screams He is now one of US.

The sign screams out that He who is the Christ has become one of you.

Not just a human but one whom even the poor can associate with.

The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is this that none of us are excluded in the glad proclamation.

We all can be a part.

VI. THE SONG/SHOUT

Luke 2:13-14. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!

This is our sixth pit stop.

A. And Suddenly with the angel…

R C Sproul:

“All heaven broke loose… [and I think that hell must have frozen over]”

This angelic choir would make Handel’s Messiah concert look like a class of kindergarten singing.

B. “Glory to God in the Highest; and peace on earth”

A praise that rose heavenward; and a peace that came downward.

“Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.”

Peter talking to Cornelius and his household says:

Acts 10:36. This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

Angels in heaven praise the Lord.

But now even the shepherds – so you and I can say:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!”

VII. THE SPONTANEITY

Luke 2:17, 20.

verse 17. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

verse 20. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The seventh and final pit stop.

A. The speech of the shepherds

[verse18] What do you make of the phrase “all who heard”?

• Was it Joseph and Mary?

• Was it the milling of those who like Joseph had come to Bethlehem for the census?

Who saw the baby but had not idea what they were beholding till the shepherds told them.

• Was it crowding of the heavenly hosts in that cramped cavern or the open courtyard, trying to catch a glimpse of Deity.

The shepherds were hyper excited to tell the story:

• The shepherds didn’t seem to care that they would not be believed for such an improbable story.

• They didn’t seem to care that no one would listen to them.

They just could not an would not stop talking.

• They had just seen the ‘fingermarks’ of God – a baby laid in the manger.

That’s the timeline of the Gospel story isn’t it?

• The Gospel story reminds me that the one who was laid in the manger by Mary [Luke 2:12] is the one who was, some 30 years later crucified upon a wood cross.

Three days after being sealed into an impenetrable tomb, HE walked out ALIVE!

• Hallelujah!

However, the story neither begins in the manger nor ends in the grave.

My response is therefore to rejoice. I cannot and will not ever keep quiet.

VIII. WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

Why this unnatural silence?

Why isn’t our spirit extolling in the glory of the Lord?

If the shepherds were UNABLE BUT to talk about the what they saw, why is it that we are silent?

A. Telling all who will hear

We often wonder how can we can tell our neighbors about Jesus?

Our excuse!

• I don’t know where to begin?

• I don’t know what to say?

If those are your questions, then learn from the shepherds.

• They said what they saw.

• They repeated what they heard.

And so can you and so can I.

Let me end with two closings.

A. Remember the Shepherd was also the Lamb

Because of Jesus, I can face anything.

That is something I will share.

1954 film, White Christmas:

“When I’m worried and I can’t sleep.

I count my blessings instead of sheep.

And I fall asleep Counting my blessings.

When my bankroll is getting small.

I think of when I had none at all.

And I fall asleep Counting my blessings.

If your worried and you can’t sleep.

Just count your blessings instead of sheep.

And you’ll fall asleep Counting your blessings.

B. Remember that gratitude cannot be silenced.

Shepherds and the glory of the Lord in the same sentence.

Shepherds enjoyed a great heritage in Israel with Abraham, Moses, and David as notable shepherds, God being identified through Psalm 23 as a great shepherd.

But by this time in Israelite history, they were not highly regarded.

They smelled like sheep.

They spent their time with sheep.

They were not really clean and religious enough to be considered spiritual.

So when God chose to announce the birth of Jesus to shepherds with his contingent of angels he makes his point clear: Everyone is loved by God, everyone has immediate access to God, and everyone is desired by God.

Because of Jesus, I am grateful.

That is why I will share.

Let your gratitude and praises last forever!

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

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You in Jesus’ name for purposing to redeem mankind, by sending Him to be born in Bethlehem of Judea on that astonishing night, while shepherds watched their flocks. Thank You for the good news of great joy, which is for all people who trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. Thank You, Father, that You did not leave us dead in our sins, but purposed from the foundation of the world, to give Jesus as the perfect Lamb of God, Who would take away the sin of the world and become the good Shepherd of the sheep, for all who would trust in His holy name. Thank You that in my Savior Christ I have nothing to fear and everything for which to be thankful. Thank You in Jesus’ name, AMEN.

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Christmas Joy! Christmas Characters! Joy of the Shepherds, Joy of the Angels We Have Heard on High. Luke 2:8-15

Luke 2:8-15 World English Bible

⁸There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. ⁹Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people. ¹¹For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.” ¹³Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying,

¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest,
on earth peace, good will toward men.”

¹⁵When 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.”

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

As you and I have read these scriptures each year, have we ever seriously noticed how the characters in the Christmas story tend to respond to angels when they show up?

If we rewind to Luke 1:11-18, the angel came to Zacharias as he was going about his priestly duties in the temple and announced the pregnancy of Elizabeth, his wife who has long been barren of child and is beyond her child bearing years.

Zacharias was initially afraid, but then almost immediately settled back down to fulfill his responsibilities.

Then in response to the angelic announcement, he seemed to casually brush the announcement aside incredulously asking; “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” (verse 18)

It seems that the angel expected Zacharias to suddenly raise up, “jump for joy,” start running around the temple telling everyone, everywhere of his good news.

Zacharias expresses his disbelief with a loud “harrumph,” basically telling the angel to go back to where ever the angel came from and to “leave me alone!”

To which the angel replied – “because you have disbelieved, you will have no voice to speak to anyone until the time of your son’s birth. then you will sing!”

When his wife Elizabeth had given birth to their son, John – Zacharias had his voice restored and then indeed did sing his prophetic song …. Luke 1:67-79

If we rewind to Luke 1:30 when the angel Gabriel visits Mary, he tells her, “do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

Mary said, “so be it!”

Here, in Luke 2, we read that these rough tough shepherds are instantly “filled with fear” at the sight of an angel and are quickly told to “fear not…”

Angels play an important role throughout the entire birth narrative of Jesus.

An angel visits Zechariah to announce the coming of John, who would prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry (Luke 1:11-20).

An angel appears to Mary to announce the coming of Jesus, the Son of God (Luke 1:28-38).

An angel appears to Joseph in a dream, urging him to stay with Mary because she is carrying the baby Jesus, who will “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).

Then, when Jesus is actually born and an angel announces his birth, a crowd of angels appears, lighting up the night sky in the fields near Bethlehem.

“A great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God. . . .” This was no simple birth announcement—the Savior of the world had come!

“Angels We Have Heard On High” tells the story in a beautifully lyrical way.

And the refrain picks up the angels’ song, using the Latin phrase “Gloria in excelsis Deo,” which means “Glory to God in the highest.”

The angels could not contain their praise.

As we celebrate Christmas this season, we are reminded of God’s great love for us in the birth of Jesus.

Like the angels, we too have the opportunity to burst into praise. And let’s invite others to join us as we give glory to God, for the Savior has come!

With all of these angelic proclamations of “Good News!” and “Great Joy!”

This should just maybe make us wonder why they were initially frightened?

Maybe viewing angels as cute, cuddly versions of cupid is completely wrong.

If we scan the the scope of scripture, it appears that whenever angels showed up on the scene they were on a mission to bring a message from God; quite often to announce, that is “open wide the can” of the good news of God’s judgement.

Some type of serious destruction often followed their arrival.

Luke writes that as this angel is sharing the news of Jesus’ birth with the shepherds, that suddenly, a “multitude of the heavenly host appears.”

For some reason, this multitude is often displayed as a white robed angelic choir, sometimes with song books in hand.

Ironically, the word “host” gives a radically different picture

https://www.blueletterbible.org/web/luk/2/13/t_conc_975013

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4756/web/tr/0-1/

— it’s translated from the Greek word stratia, and literally means a military encampment or a band of soldiers.

This was not a choir of cupids but an angelic army straight from heaven.

God had sent His army to announce that the Messiah had arrived and the rescue mission for humanity had begun.

This army had no intention of dethroning an arrogant Caesar in Rome or removing a corrupt High Priest in Jerusalem.

They weren’t about to wipe out the Roman army or restore Israel as a world power.

They had arrived to announce “a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger”— an undeniably unexpected way for God’s rescue mission to begin.

Why do you think God sent an angelic army to announce the birth of Jesus?

The good news this angelic choir delivered was for ALL humanity.

For God loved the whole world so much that His gave His only begotten Son into the world, not to condemn but to be the ONE sacrifice for the sin of the world –

Not Judgment!

Not Condemnation!

But unconditional, undeserved LOVE so that everyone in the world who would believe on Him would not remain at enmity with God, but would be forgiven of their sin, regain fellowship with God, the Father and receive life everlasting.

This message of goodwill to all men, is particularly remembered when we celebrate the birth of Immanuel – God with us, God within us – recalling the beautiful story of a young virgin, her espoused husband, entrusted with the upbringing of God’s only begotten Son – Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

But the true message that was shared on that ordinary Bethlehem hillside, was that these extraordinary good tidings which spoke of joy to mankind, peace on earth were for a particular group of people – the Shepherds – men of good will!

The good tidings of great joy and lasting peace about which the angels sang, were for MEN OF GOODWILL.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men – the MEN, with whom God is pleased. Peace on earth to people who enjoy God’s favour.”

We read that on earth there will be peace… among men of goodwill.

God has promised peace to men with whom the Lord is well-pleased – those that are saved by grace through faith in Christ.

Although the gospel message these angels shared continues to be available to ALL men, only those that enjoy goodwill before the Lord, by believing on the infant Immanuel, the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and trusting in the name of the only begotten Son of God for the forgiveness of sins, will enjoy the peace on earth that this heavenly choir proclaimed.

Only they will discover the joy of the Lord in their hearts and peace with God in their lives.

Although the message of salvation was for all people –

the Messiah had to be Jewish.

He had to be the Son of God, born of a Jewish virgin, in the little town of Bethlehem, as a descendent of David and Abraham.

He had to fulfil these and numerous other prophecies to fulfil Scripture, and thus He became qualified in two distinct areas

1) as Messiah of Israel and

2) Saviour of the world.

Christ came to fulfil both the Law and the prophets and not one prophetic scripture relating to Christ’s first advent was broken – and every prophecy relating to His second coming will likewise be fulfilled, to the glory of God.

Although this extraordinary good news which was delivered by the army of angels is open to ALL who will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ – nowhere in Scripture is it specifically taught that peace on earth is “for all men.”

Peace with God and the favour of God comes by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.

Peace WITH God is received when one is justified by faith.

The peace OF God within and peace ON earth, during Christ’s millennial reign, is only given to – men of goodwill.

Only those that trust in the name of the only begotten Son of the Father are identified in this verse as, “men of goodwill.”

John 14:19-31World English Bible

¹⁹Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. ²⁰In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”

²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?”

²³Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him. ²⁴He who does not love me does not keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me. ²⁵I have said these things to you while still living with you. ²⁶But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. ²⁷Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. ²⁸You heard how I told you, ‘I go away, and I come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹Now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe. ³⁰I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me. ³¹But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let’s go from here.

Come, and let us arise and join with Jesus, the author, perfecter of our faith!

Come, let us join our voices and our lives with that angelic army, with that angelic chorus, and hearken unto souls that are dead in their sins the truth.

Let us hearken unto the song of the angels, tell all who are at enmity with God,

the extraordinary good news of the gospel of grace – that Christ died for their sins, and rose again.. so that ALL who believe on Him would not perish, but receive peace with God and will be granted the peace of God in their heart.

Only those who have been saved by grace, will be among the joyful congregation witnessing the glory of the coming of our Prince of Peace, when He finally comes to set up His everlasting Kingdom – when true peace on earth will be governed in righteousness, Jesus is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords.

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

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, Giver of every good and perfect gift. Thank you for Immanuel, thy Son! Thank you for the Host of Angels with their message of the coming good news. Let us hearken unto their song of peace to those for whom You have found favor. Thank You for the revelation of your Son to your biblical servants, and their ancient responses which have set the best example of faithfulness for all generations to come.

Thank You that I have peace with God, and as Your born-again child, that I have received Your goodwill and grace, not only in this age but in the ages to come. Thank You that because I am positioned in Christ and clothed in His righteousness, I am identified with Him, have found favour in Your sight, and the peace of God in my heart. I know that without Jesus there is nothing I could have done to warrant peace with You, for I acknowledge that I am a sinner, deserving of death – but glory to God in the highest, that peace has been granted to men with whom You are pleased.

Beloved Immanuel, beloved God with us and within us, Dear Jesus, may we celebrate your birth by rejoicing and joining voices with others in singing your praise. Amen.

Praise Your holy name that both peace with God and the peace of God, is available to who place their faith in the only begotten Son of God, in Whose name I pray, 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

¹⁵When 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.” ¹⁶They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough. ¹⁷When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child. ¹⁸All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds. ¹⁹But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰The 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

³¹For 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?
³³He makes my feet like deer’s feet,
    and sets me on my high places.
³⁴He teaches my hands to war,
    so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.
³⁵You 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:
²my loving kindness, my fortress,
    my high tower, my deliverer,
    my shield, and he in whom I take refuge,
    who subdues my people under me.
³Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him?
    Or the son of man, that you think of him?
⁴Man is like a breath.
    His days are like a shadow that passes away.
⁵Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down.
    Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
⁶Throw out lightning, and scatter them.
    Send out your arrows, and rout them.
⁷Stretch 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.
⁹I will sing a new song to you, God.
    On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.
¹⁰You are he who gives salvation to kings,
    who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.
¹¹Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners,
    whose mouths speak deceit,
    whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

¹²Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants,
    our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.
¹³Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision.
    Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields.
¹⁴Our oxen will pull heavy loads.
    There is no breaking in, and no going away,
    and no outcry in our streets.
¹⁵Happy 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.
²My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord.
Apart from you I have no good thing.”
³As for the saints who are in the earth,
they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

⁴Their 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.
⁵Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup.
    You made my lot secure.

⁶The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.
    Yes, I have a good inheritance.
⁷I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel.
    Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.
⁸I have set Yahweh always before me.
    Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices.
    My body shall also dwell in safety.
¹⁰For you will not leave my soul in Sheol,^[a]
    neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.
¹¹You 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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What Ordinary Joy is there left for us in our Extraordinarily Extraordinary God? Ode to Joy? Where Exactly is all of our Extraordinarily Extraordinary Joy in our One Extraordinarily Extraordinary God? Luke 2:15-20.

Luke 2:15-20Authorized (King James) Version

¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. ¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. ¹⁸And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

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

Two words which best describes the actual day before, the true day of, and the beginning of the night infant Lord Jesus was born – extraordinarily ordinary.

The sky was extraordinarily ordinary.

An occasional, ordinary gust of stirred the leaves and chilled the air.

The stars were sparkling like diamonds sparkling on ordinary black velvet.

Fleets of ordinary clouds floated in front of the moon.

It was a beautiful night – a night worth peeking out of your bedroom window to admire – but not necessarily an unusual or an extraordinary one as it all began.

No reason for anyone to expect an extraordinary surprise.

Nothing out of the ordinary as this night began designed to keep you awake.

An ordinary night with an ordinary sky.

The sheep were ordinary too.

Some fat.

Some scrawny.

Some with barrel bellies.

Some with twig legs.

Common everyday ordinary animals probably owned by ordinary people.

No fleece made of gold.

No history makers.

No blue-ribbon winners.

They were simply ordinary sheep – sleeping silhouettes on an ordinary hillside.

And the shepherds?

Ordinary peasants they were.

Ancestors of today’s Bedouin.

Wearing all the ordinary clothes they ordinarily owned.

Ordinarily smelling like the ordinary sheep and looking just as woolly.

True they were conscientious, and hardy as well, to spend every night outside guarding their ordinary flocks.

But you won’t ordinarily find their staffs in a museum.

You won’t ordinarily find their writings in a library.

No one asked for their extraordinary opinion on social justice or meaning of the Torah – after all – they were exactly this: anonymous, simple, ordinary people.

An ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds.

And were it not for the extraordinary God who delights in transforming the ordinary, the night would have ordinarily gone unnoticed and unrecorded.

No breaking news event expected here for the first Jerusalem Press- the sheep would have been forgotten, the shepherds would have slept the night away.

Except an extraordinary God, lost in the ordinary, dances amidst the common.

The black star lit sky suddenly exploded with an extraordinary brightness.

Ordinary rocks and trees previously hidden in shadow jumped into clarity.

Sheep that had just a few moments before been ordinary and silent became a extraordinary chorus of extraordinary curiosity.

One minute, these ordinary shepherds were fast asleep, the next they were rubbing their eyes, staring into the face of an extraordinary angel of the Lord.

This ordinary night was ordinary no more.

It was indescribably extraordinary ….

The angels came in the night because that is when light is best seen and when light is most needed.

An extraordinary God transforms the ordinary for the same reason.

That’s also probably why the announcement came first to the shepherds.

They did not ask God if he was sure he knew what he was doing.

Had the angel first gone to the scribes, the leading theologians of the times, they’d have first run headlong into committee consulted their commentaries.

Had the shepherds first gone to their local politicians, they would have looked around to see if anyone was watching, finding none – gone back to “so what?”

Had he gone to the influential and powerful they’d have checked their sundials.

So?

Guess what?

Our extraordinary God went straight to the ordinary fields, ordinary shepherds.

People whose testimony ordinarily did not count in a law court.

People who did not have a reputation to protect, or an ax to grind, or a ladder to climb, or an opinion to express, or a sword to swing.

Three simple observations we can make from this story.

Three observations about how the Lord brought glory to the ordinary, when he brought heaven to earth.

Three ordinary observations about how the extraordinary Lord ordinarily longs to work in and through an extraordinarily ordinary you and extraordinarily me.

1. The Shepherds Searched for Jesus

“the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby.” (Luke 2:15-16)

The shepherds were probably several miles away from Bethlehem in the Judean wilderness.

Their ordinary curiosity was extraordinarily peaked – they obeyed the angel.

They went looking for the infant Jesus, in the dark, leaving their flocks behind.

The word ‘found’ in verse 16 means ‘found after a search’.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/luk/2/16/t_conc_975016

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It must have taken some considerable time to find Mary and Joseph and the baby.

They searched and they searched and searched until they finally found Jesus.

They heard the Word of God and they obeyed.

They wanted to see whether what they had been told was true.

It took an extraordinary amount of time and effort to find Jesus, but boy was the extraordinary effort they made ever much worth it for generations of believers.

In this respect, the ordinary shepherds are extraordinary role models.

Let me ask, have you (lately) extraordinarily searched for Jesus – personally?

Let me ask, How extraordinarily desperate are you to extraordinarily find Him, to extraordinarily know Him, and to be with Him extraordinarily?

Jesus said,

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3).

It is extraordinarily important that we search the scriptures for ourselves.

The three most extraordinarily important questions we will ever ask are these:

1. Who is Jesus?

2. Why did Jesus come?

3. What does it mean to follow him?

A secondhand faith based on what our parents or family believe will not be strong enough to withstand the storms of life.

A secondhand faith will not ordinarily save us.

We must each develop extraordinarily deep personal convictions based on the historical facts. Based on the extraordinary eyewitness testimony of those who first encountered Jesus. They extraordinarily searched for Jesus. We must too.

The Shepherds Shared News of Jesus

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

Perhaps because they had no fixed address, like Bedouin today, shepherds could not testify in court.

How extraordinarily Ironic therefore that God choose these shepherds to be the first human witnesses to tell others that prophecy had been fulfilled, that God’s extraordinary angels had appeared and that the Messiah had finally been born.

And they didn’t need to go on an evangelism course first.

Their extraordinary testimony was extraordinarily spontaneous.

The ordinary shepherds spoke from the heart and their extraordinary words extraordinarily connected with generations of the deepest needs of others.

When you hear extraordinarily exciting news, it’s hard not to share it isn’t it?

You don’t think about your ordinary self or the ordinary words to say – you are simply consumed by the extraordinarily good news and you cannot keep it in.

When a baby is born in the family, you can’t stop talking about your child or grandchild, you can’t resist pulling out the photos, can you?

It brings an extraordinary smile to your face, a skip to your walk, and you find your ordinary self sharing with anyone, even strangers, who will stop to listen.

The more extraordinarily exciting, the more extraordinarily amazing the news, the greater the extraordinary eagerness to extraordinarily share.

The gospel is the greatest news on earth.

If we ordinarily feel reluctant or embarrassed to share it, perhaps we have not really understood what “extraordinary” Jesus has extraordinarily done for us.

The more extraordinary time we spend with Jesus the more extraordinarily infectious we become.

We are His extraordinarily extraordinary ordinary witnesses exactly right now!

These ordinary shepherds extraordinarily searched for our extraordinary Jesus.

After an extraordinary discovery – The shepherds shared news of Jesus.

And ….

The ordinary Shepherds extraordinarily Praised God because of Jesus

“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:20)

Worship is simply our high praising our extraordinarily extraordinary God for exactly who he is and our giving our extraordinary thanks for what he has done.

That is why worship and evangelism flow from the same heart attitude.

The more we extraordinarily understand what our extraordinary God in Jesus has extraordinarily done for us, the more we will praise him and thank him.

Perhaps that is why some of the most extraordinarily beautiful and memorable Christian hymns are actually Christmas Carols.

Perhaps that is why at this time of year they are even extraordinarily played on TV and radio stations, in shopping centers, even in elevators and Dental offices.

If our ordinary hearts have been extraordinarily warmed in the fire of God’s love, how can we not extraordinarily sing in spontaneous thanks and praise?

The ordinary shepherds extraordinarily searched for an extraordinary Jesus.

And extraordinarily, when they found Jesus, the shepherds extraordinarily praised God for Jesus and shared the news of Jesus with all who would listen, “and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them”.

Maybe you feel rather ordinary yourself today.

Behind the ordinary festivities, maybe you secretly feel rather self conscious, insecure, unsure how you would respond to such a visitation from angels.

Then remember our extraordinarily extraordinary God delights in the ordinary.

Today, a small unassuming church building marks the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem.

It is the oldest church in the world.

Underneath the altar is a cave, a little cavern lit by silver lamps.

Crusader crosses are etched into the marble pillars, witness to countless generations of ordinary “shepherds” and ordinary pilgrims.

Unlike many of our Cathedrals, you can freely enter the building and admire this ancient church.

You can even step down into the quiet cave where a star embedded in the floor denotes the place where the Savior of the world was probably born.

But there is one condition, one requirement, one stipulation.

You have to stoop.

The entrance to the church is so low only a child can enter standing up.

A most profound an extraordinary parable.

To view the place where Christ was born, we must humble ourselves.

We must bow to enter his presence.

On our ordinary TV screens and in our ordinary newspapers, we see the world standing tall, ordinarily the taller, ordinarily the more impressive, but to bear witness to our extraordinarily extraordinary Savior, you get on your knees.

On your ordinary knees.

So… While the ordinary theologians were ordinarily sleeping,

While the ordinary elite were dreaming and while the successful were snoring, the extraordinarily extraordinary ordinary meek were ordinarily kneeling.

They were ordinarily kneeling before the extraordinarily extraordinary One only the extraordinarily, extraordinary, ordinarily meek will ever truly see.

Extraordinarily, ordinary shepherds were extraordinarily kneeling before Jesus.

They were the first to worship and they were the first to share the good news.

“When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them… glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:17-18, 20)

May our extraordinary God extraordinarily bless you and may the extraordinary infant, Emmanuel, God extraordinarily with us, extraordinarily keep all of you.

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

Let us Pray,

An Ode to Extraordinary Joy ….

Psalm 150

¹Praise ye the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary:
praise him in the firmament of his power.
²Praise him for his mighty acts:
praise him according to his excellent greatness.
³Praise him with the sound of the trumpet:
praise him with the psaltery and harp.
⁴Praise him with the timbrel and dance:
praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
⁵Praise him upon the loud cymbals:
praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
⁶Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.

Praise ye the Lord.

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Advent Week Two: What Joy in the Lord? Turning Christmas Chaos into Christmas Joy, Embrace Uncertainty! Luke 2:8-20

Luke 2:8-20 Common English Bible

Announcement to shepherds

⁸Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. ⁹The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified.

¹⁰The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. ¹¹Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord. ¹²This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.” ¹³Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God. They said, ¹⁴“Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”

¹⁵When the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened. Let’s confirm what the Lord has revealed to us.” ¹⁶They went quickly and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they saw this, they reported what they had been told about this child. ¹⁸Everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully. ²⁰The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything happened just as they had been told.

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

It’s better to give than to receive, as the saying goes.

This Christmas season, however, I must definitely admit that I find both giving and receiving quite difficult.

Some people – my wife. for example – seem to have no problem buying gifts, giving gifts and receiving gifts all with the very same wide smile on her face.

I, however, am pretty much the polar opposite, I prefer being self-sufficient.

That feels safer somehow.

It does not seem to matter what the gift is: someone’s time, money, or material possessions, there are definite moments when I genuinely fear that one feeling of being incredibly burdensome or way over the top indebted to the gift-giver.

On the other side of the equation, I want to have a generous heart in giving, but worry that whatever my gifts to someone else will be, they will be insufficient.

Truth is this … Buying, Giving and Receiving all require personal vulnerability.

They are foundational expressions of love, and love requires vulnerability.

Deep within our hearts, this need to express our love as buying, giving and receiving is essential at all times of the year, but the Christmas holidays can be a very great reminder to recommit to practices that have fallen by the wayside.

As I reflect on God’s generous love and faithfulness to me this past year, I am compelled to not only pass that generous love along to others, but to try to allow them to pass it back on to me in the spirit I originally passed it to them.

Faithful to this call to love, I must surrender my fears and insecurities to God.

In receiving God’s gift of love – His Son, to me, I have to be able to acknowledge that God often chooses to express that same measured love through His people.

It may come in the form of a kind word, an investment of time, an act of service, or a material gift – it may come some other more quieter way – this devotional.

But, it all requires a very definite, decisive and intentional act of vulnerability!

And that very definite, decisive and intentional act causes great internal chaos.

Right Gift – Right Intentions – Right Time?

Right Gift – Right Intentions – Wrong Time?

Right -Gift – Right Intentions – Insensitive to the Moment Wrong Time!

Right Gift – Wrong Intentions – Insensitive to the Moment Wrong Time!

Wrong Gift – Wrong Intentions – Insensitive to the Moment Wrong Time!

Wrong Gift – Heartless Intentions – Deliberate Infliction of Great Distress!

How can we know the true nature of our hearts when that moment arrives?

How prepared are we to receive that moment, under what and whose mindset?

Much Fear and Trembling, Stressed Out and uncertain degrees of Uncertainty?

With “Joy to the World” “Ear to Ear Smiles” Tidings of Good News, Great Joy?

I mean who wants Christmas to be that time of the year when friendship is lost?

Who wants Christmas to be that one time of the year when God’s greatest gift of the very tiniest of miracles goes, unrevealed, unnoticed, untried, unembraced?

Luke 2:8-14New English Translation

The Shepherds’ Visit

⁸Now^[a] there were shepherds^[b] nearby^[c] living out in the field, keeping guard ^[d] over their flock at night. ⁹An^[e] angel of the Lord^[f] appeared to^[g] them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were absolutely terrified.^[h] ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully,^[i] for I proclaim to you good news^[j] that brings great joy to all the people: ¹¹Today^[k] your Savior is born in the city^[l] of David.^[m] He is Christ^[n] the Lord. ¹²This^[o] will be a sign^[p] for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.”^[q] ¹³Suddenly^[r] a vast, heavenly army^[s] appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴“Glory^[t] to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among people^[u] with whom he is pleased!”^[v]

The shepherds were going about their every day business of being a shepherd.

Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord took over their senses and shone around them and they were absolutely terrified!

Friend to Friend

How many of us take some medication for stress-related causes each week.

During the holiday season, how many millions of people battle what experts refer to as the holiday blues?

Being a retired Psychiatric Nurse I am very familiar with anxiety, depression and the amount of pain it holds, must constantly battle to stay out of that pit.

Now, what can we do to turn it around – maybe bring out the Joy of the Season?

To correctly address anxieties and depression and other mental health issues, we must first come to a place of total surrender to God and His plan of healing, even if, in our current mental states we cannot see or understand that plan.

Remember that the bottom line of God’s heart is always toward His children is always about a safe, secure connection, relationship restoration and healing.

Always seek out professional help from Licensed Mental Health Professionals.

I thoroughly believe in my God’s power of bringing restoration and Shalom. I can say that I have been healed and can reflect upon many “mini-miracles!”

However, I also deeply believe that we also need the presence of Mental Health Professionals to help us sort out what is real from what is not, to talk things out with another human being and if we need Medication, then it can be prescribed.

We are each given by God certain spiritual gifts which God expects us to use to compassionately give support, build up and edify the Children of His Kingdom.

Over time, God brings together those whom He uniquely gifts with patience and love and brings together those who have been uniquely gifted with the ability to sit still and listen with those who find themselves in highest need of those gifts.

Our own benevolent and charitable God gave some the gift of compassion which they deeply, and desperately want nothing more than to give it away to another.

God has a definite plan for healing and restoration, we just need to give Him the time, season, the circumstance upon which we finally experience His Presence!

But will we on this day, this season, receive the gift in the spirit in which it was first given – will we even consider allowing ourselves to be healed of ourselves?

Luke 2:15-20New English Translation

¹⁵When^[a] the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord^[b] has made known to us.” ¹⁶So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger.^[c] ¹⁷When^[d] they saw him,^[e] they related what they had been told^[f] about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were astonished^[g] at what the shepherds said. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean.^[h] ²⁰So^[i] the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising^[j] God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told.^[k]

My own experience ….

While I am not a big fan of television, perusing all of the myriad channels of this programmatic offering or that, I do enjoy watching home improvement shows.

On a recent program, an interior decorator and homeowner were discussing a list of great big changes that needed to be made in order to update their home.

“First, foremost, we have to do something about those windows,” the decorator announced. I was surprised that she listed this task first – until I saw the house.

The existing glass was not only a seriously ugly shade of gold, but it was thick and chunky as well.

The windows let in no light and made it virtually impossible to see in or out.

The result was a dark isolated home.

The distressed homeowner protested, “But I like my privacy.

And if I thought anyone could see in, I feel totally exposed, and vulnerable.”

When it comes to dealing with mental health, many people feel the same way.

Sometimes without even trying, sometimes quite purposely, we will construct walls over which no one would climb because the cost of friendship is too high.

We fill the windows of our soul with emotional excuses in order to avoid dealing with pain.

The result is darkness, loneliness, and missed opportunities for restoration.

We do not always want to understand our mental health when things trail off, depression or find the treasures of that darkness; we simply want to be rid of it.

Many people will only try to cope, understand and deal with their mental health issues on a superficial level – just refusing to confront head on, to face painful experiences, difficult relationships, and the broken places where darkness lives.

We have this tendency to only look for the nearest, quickest exit, hoping to ease by, to subtly bypass transparency because the price is just far too high to pay.

Emotional integrity is an essential step to dealing with mental health issues.

Embracing the critical importance of taking care of our mental health issues.

Embracing God with the same fervor and Joy as God is Embracing Joyfully Us.

Luke 2:15New English Translation

As God revealed His Glory to the Shepherds,

God is revealing His Glory to us even today ….

At least He is trying to reveal it to us ….

God showed the Shepherds where to look ….

God even told the Shepherds what and who to look for ….

God told them and showed them exactly where their mini-miracle was,

God is always trying impossibly, indescribably hard to get our attention!

We must be real with God as God is being real with us

We must be real before God we can be right with ourselves.

We must be willing to raise ourselves up and go and see this “mini-miracle!”

Leave the places where we are used to being both comfortable, uncomfortable.

Actively, with great and greater and greatest intention, seek our miracle of joy.

Until we are willing to risk everything with being 100% transparent with God, we can neither be transparent with ourselves, understand nor effectively deal with our mental health issues during the holidays or any other time of the year.

The holiday season always seem to tug harder and harder at the masks we carefully hold in place, push the emotional buttons we desperately try to hide.

The arrival of certain family members can resurrect uncomfortable and painful issues that have just kind of wallowed in our souls, never really been resolved.

Financial pressure to “get up and go” travel, try to buy all of those “right gifts” opens up like a widening sinkhole, waiting to steal our joy, destroy our peace.

Personal schedules, meeting all our demands, demands of family, of friends demand every ounce of energy, false expectations leave us empty and hollow.

The dark and ever widening and deepening pit waits for us to stumble, fall in.

We can choose to make this Christmas different.

We can choose to embrace God as God embraces us ….

We can choose to embrace baby Immanuel as baby Immanuel longs for and desperately needs and requires the embrace of His mother and his father.

Immanuel, God with us ….

Immanuel, God within us ….

Immanuel, God within us …. the miracle of life soon to be revealed in us ….

We can choose to embrace His Son Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

We can choose to embrace God the Holy Spirit as we are embraced, prayed for.

We can choose to give God praise.

We can choose to give Jesus our presence ….

We can choose to give the Holy Spirit our prayers ….

Choose to focus on the victories and joys we have experienced during the year, and then intentionally find new ways to share that victory and joy with others.

This season of Christmas can be a miracle of true celebration of fresh starts and new beginnings if we choose to focus on the miracle of a tiny little baby born in a manger, who came with a miraculous message, to save us and give us true life.

The darkness can be effectively addressed if we will deliberately, intentionally raise up from our places and go, choose to face and deal with whatever it holds.

Now It’s Our Turn to Get Up and Raise up ….

Read Luke 2:1-20.

Invite that infant into your life ….

Sit down next to that infant, Immanuel ….

Sit with Mary and Joseph ….

Sit in the coldness and the darkness of night which they did ….

Together, answer these questions after reading with them the Christmas story.

What was the attitude of Mary and Joseph as they traveled to Bethlehem?
How did the shepherds react to the news of Jesus’ birth? What did they do?
How would you describe the emotions and thoughts of Mary, of Joseph, of You?
How can your choice to “ponder” the miracles of Jesus’ birth change theirs and your personal perspective of the holiday season?

Get to know the true God and His Son, Immanuel through the Holy Scriptures.

Write a letter of commitment to that infant Jesus, asking Him to empower the choices you have made.

Make a plan or a list of “dos” and “don’ts” that will help you experience the best holiday season of your life.

Include this “first family”, and your family in making this plan, and make the prayerful commitment to covenant with God, to hold each other accountable.

Right now, choose the attitude of those shepherds, choose an attitude of joy by focusing your mind on the tiny things of heaven – not earth, and by fixing your heart on baby Jesus Christ -our Christmas chaos will turn into Christmas joy!

This year be determined to give gifts generously and to receive them graciously, because God was highly determined to give us the very best gift possible. I know both the acts of giving and receiving reflect God’s generous love unto the world.

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

Let us Pray,

42 As a deer^[c] longs^[d] for streams of water,
so I long^[e] for you, O God!
²I thirst^[f] for God,
for the living God.
I say,^[g] “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?”^[h]
³I cannot eat; I weep day and night.^[i]
All day long they say to me,^[j] “Where is your God?”
⁴I will remember and weep.^[k]
For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,
shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.^[l]
⁵Why are you depressed,^[m] O my soul?^[n]
Why are you upset?^[o]
Wait^[p] for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.^[q]
⁶I am depressed,^[r]
so I will pray to you while in the region of the upper Jordan,^[s]
from Hermon,^[t] from Mount Mizar.^[u]
⁷One deep stream calls out to another^[v] at the sound of your waterfalls;^[w]
all your billows and waves overwhelm me.^[x]
⁸By day the Lord decrees his loyal love,^[y]
and by night he gives me a song,^[z]
a prayer^[aa] to the God of my life.
⁹I will pray^[ab] to God, my high ridge:^[ac]
“Why do you ignore^[ad] me?
Why must I walk around mourning^[ae]
because my enemies oppress me?”
¹⁰My enemies’ taunts cut me to the bone,^[af]
as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”^[ag]
¹¹Why are you depressed,^[ah] O my soul?^[ai]
Why are you upset?^[aj]
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.^[ak]

Father, I want this holiday season to be filled with light instead of darkness. Please help me discard my emotional masks and be real before You as well as my family and friends. Father, help me make this holiday season an offering of praise to You.

In Immanuel’s most blessed and precious Name,
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Advent Week Two: What Joy in the Lord? I will Recall the Works of Our Lord, all the Power of God’s Miracles. Psalm 77

Psalm 77English Standard Version

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

77 I cry aloud to God,
    aloud to God, and he will hear me.
²In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
    in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
    my soul refuses to be comforted.
³When I remember God, I moan;
    when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

⁴You hold my eyelids open;
    I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
⁵I consider the days of old,
    the years long ago.
⁶I said,^[a] “Let me remember my song in the night;
    let me meditate in my heart.”
    Then my spirit made a diligent search:
⁷“Will the Lord spurn forever,
    and never again be favorable?
⁸Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
    Are his promises at an end for all time?
⁹Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

¹⁰Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”^[b]

¹¹I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
¹²I will ponder all your work,
    and meditate on your mighty deeds.
¹³Your way, O God, is holy.
    What god is great like our God?
¹⁴You are the God who works wonders;
    you have made known your might among the peoples.
¹⁵You with your arm redeemed your people,
    the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶When the waters saw you, O God,
    when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
    indeed, the deep trembled.
¹⁷The clouds poured out water;
    the skies gave forth thunder;
    your arrows flashed on every side.
¹⁸The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
    your lightnings lighted up the world;
    the earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹Your way was through the sea,
    your path through the great waters;
    yet your footprints were unseen.^[c]
²⁰You led your people like a flock
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

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

A Psalm of Asaph ….

Reckoning with God what was weighing so heavily on his heart, upon his soul.

The passage of time stretched out like an unending journey.

Light had vanished and left me afraid.

Prayers went unanswered, and I cried out for the Lord to do something, but every day I faced the same struggles.

My heart felt frozen, my mind numb, I went through the motions of my daily tasks. I doubted God’s presence in my life and accused him of ignoring me.”

At times it can feel like we have been sidelined.

We pray for healing in our bodies or relationships, and things get worse and worse, we wonder to ourselves when it will finally be our turn for a miracle.

We cry and plead, but God seems silent.

The agony of silence gives way to an outburst of anger or disappointment.

Psalm 77 helps us to reckon our negative thoughts with God’s Truth, helps us to express our utter frustration, but also points our hearts toward God’s goodness.

Everyone faces days of trouble because trouble is part of our world.

It serves several purposes.

It’s an opportunity for our spiritual roots to go deeper as we choose to trust God with the unknowns that lie before us.

The thing with troubles is that we do not have any kind of guaranteed outcome, and we like positive outcomes we can all count on, in the end, the victory is all ours, but when the beginning seems long ago, the middle can seem unending.

What do we do when the middle seems long and victory far off?

Losing seems ever more imminent and retreat the only real way forward.

We remember that our miracle unfolds day by day and we turn to the past to propel us forward.

Sometimes we can’t see God clearly in our own lives, but that’s when we can turn to the Bible for ancient words of encouragement, hope, undeniable joy.

We find encouragement as we trace God’s faithful heart and his miraculous deeds throughout the Old and New Testaments.

When we remember how he parted the Red Sea for the Israelites, we can look for how he made a way in our lives too.

Our parting of seas might look like the strength to walk into any doctor’s office, unsure and uncertain and wholly afraid of the “news” we are about to receive.

It’s this maxed reliance on the ancient Words of God for the very next step that reveals so much more of the unfolding miracle he does in our day-to-day lives.

Luke 2:25-35New Living Translation

The Prophecy of Simeon

²⁵At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him ²⁶and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, ²⁸Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,

²⁹“Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,
    as you have promised.
³⁰I have seen your salvation,
³¹    which you have prepared for all people.
³²He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
    and he is the glory of your people Israel!”

³³Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. ³⁴Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. ³⁵As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”

Our hearts grow stronger when we remember aged and devout Simeon who was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel.

The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

How long had he been waiting and wondering for the miracle to take place in his life – that God would actually remember his name, remember His promise?

How consumed was Simeon with the thoughts that he would live long enough to see the Messiah but not be living long enough to see actual Messiah crowned?

How had he lived his life differently or the same trusting God would bless him above all others with hope, a miracle of blessed assurance, spiritual comfort?

Who was Simeon before the Holy Spirit came upon him – a despondent but too devout man like Asaph who had long desired for the Lord to make a difference?

His journey to this spiritual healing lasted years and cost him a place in society,

No one could help him wait.

His way was probably darkened with great discouragement.

Yet the infant Jesus was brought to the temple for ritual purification by his mom and dad, Simeon, convinced that a single touch of Jesus’ young body would heal him of his despondency and his impatience, perhaps failing faith.

His staunch persistence led to his miracle healing.

Simeon’s example of his steadfast trust in his God’s promise gives us courage to persist, helps us see where we stayed the course, even though we felt defeated.

Our persistence is part of the anticipated joy of our miracle of waiting for Jesus.

We may find ourselves in situations that seem as impassable as a wide sea.

There’s no way around it, and our despondency, defeat, grow ever closer.

We can surrender, or we can keep searching for a way through, trusting the ancient prophesies of God will miraculously come true, be with us, thru it all.

That’s just as much of a miracle as the seas parting and our despondency and defeat disappearing from taking center stage at the forefront of our thoughts.

The miracle of Immanuel, God with us!

The miracle of Immanuel, God within us!

The miracle of Immanuel, God goes with us.

He is our strength and companion for the troubled waters ahead.

For more years than I care to confess to (thirty) God carried me through that time when I felt discouraged and abandoned by him all those 20+ years ago.

There was very little hope of anything significant happening in my life. My joy was my pride in my ability to remain off the grid, all alone in my despondency.

Like Simeon, I somehow persisted in seeking him. And the miracle was a slow unfolding of grace as he met me, drew me closer to him, and renewed my heart.

Maybe, like the Psalmist Asaph, like I did, you are feeling this spiritual trough.

Intersecting Faith and Life:

If you find yourself in a situation where you feel like you’re in deep trouble and God seems far off, continue to call on him and remember what he has done.

When you couple that spiritual trough with an intentional time of remembering what he has done with you crying out to him, you might learn God strengthened your faith so that you too can see your miracle unfold as he carries you through.

Big splashy miracles are exciting testimonies of God’s power. Quiet miracles that unfold slowly are enduring testimonies of God’s glory revealed in you.

Right now, in this exact and God exacting moment, we are the sum total of all the practically unnoticed mini – miracles which God has performed in our lives.

Mini-Miracles!

Mini -Miracles …. which I agree wholeheartedly strikes me as oxymoronic.

Miracles, after all, are defined as acts of God, amazing and marvelous events, and “seals of a divine mission” (Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary).

Generally speaking, there’s nothing small about them.

What I’m talking about then, are instances of heavenly intervention in the lives of believers impacting what we would consider “minor” areas of our existence,

the things that cause us to make statements like: “It showed me that God cares about even the minutest things in our lives,” always as if that’s a profoundly shocking proclamation.

Those passing moments None of us ever responds to by saying, “Well, duh…”

I believe it’s because it never stops being a mind-blowing concept – the Creator of the universe, who hears every single one of the prayers, praises of billions simultaneously and loves each one the same, provided, perhaps, just the right amount of money for a struggling single mom to buy her child a pair of shoes.

It’s not the ancient grand parting of the Red Sea to preserve for Himself a people, or the resurrection of His son to purchase the redemption of humanity.

It’s, for lack of a better term, nearly imperceptible moment – a mini-miracle!

Which almost certainly finds its ancient roots in scripture written thousands of years ago – ancient truths, revealed to ancient writers, affecting ancient lives!

Mark 6:30-44New Living Translation

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

³⁰The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. ³¹Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.

³²So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. ³³But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. ³⁴Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

³⁵Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. ³⁶Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”

³⁷But Jesus said, “You feed them.”

“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money^[a] to buy food for all these people!”

³⁸“How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.”

They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”

³⁹Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.

⁴¹Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. ⁴²They all ate as much as they wanted, ⁴³and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. ⁴⁴A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.^[b]

I remember one time in our Adult Bible Fellowship class I stepped in to teach our continuing series in Mark’s gospel.

We were in Chapter Six, focusing primarily on the Feeding of the 5,000.

As I began my carefully crafted, well thought out, well researched lesson, I had admit that I had never quite been able to visualize this scene, or to understand exactly what the miracle was meant to reveal to me 2 thousands of years after.

I mean, there is the lesson of provision, but the human body can go without food for quite some time.

Jesus Himself fasted in the wilderness for 40 days (Matthew 4:1-4).

So it’s not like life and death were hanging in the balance if all of those people who had followed Him to this “desolate place” went without dinner that night.

It could be, as I suggested, Jesus just didn’t want the people to go away – He had just suffered the death of His cousin John the Baptist, and recently endured the “prophesized unbelief” (Mark 6:6) of those from His hometown of Nazareth.

It could be, I mentioned, Jesus took great, immense delight in this multitude foregoing their bodily needs to attend to His every wisdom and every Word.

It very well could be our Lord simply wanted to do something “just for them.”

Maybe, I said, that’s why I said I always tended to overlook significance this miracle hidden in these short few verses of Mark’s Gospel a little bit too much.

“You know how sometimes when God does something that you know was ‘just exclusively for you,’ and you tell someone else about it, and they’re like, ‘That’s cool and all,’ but it just does not carry the same weight or meaning for them?”

I knew exactly what that was like, and the class liked where I was going. I could sense an even greater personalization in mini-miracles, in God drawing delight from blessing our socks off in ways that speak to our individual hearts.

The idea also gave me greater permission to attribute to the Lord all sorts of mini-transpiring’s I had always chalked up to my own efforts, happenstance, or even worse, brushed them off, “gone, completely “so what”” without noticing.

Today, I write this devotion and I wonder how many mini-miracles I’ve missed out praising and thanking the Lord for by being impatient, or plain inattentive.

Count on your own fingers and count on your toes, count on all your neighbors fingers and toes at exactly how many of those “mini-miracles” “imperceptible works of the Lord our God” have passed by you – how many miracles missed?

Romans 1:19-22 New Living Translation

¹⁹They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. ²⁰For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

²¹Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. ²²Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

Moses told those worshipping the golden calf: “Your problem is not that God is not fulfilling, your problem is that you are spoiled”

Romans 1:19-22 would seem to indicate that the Lord’s hand is always evident everywhere – “all people can clearly see all His invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature. So, ergo, they have no excuse for not knowing God”

I like these verses very much, because, when it comes right down to it I like to see of myself as being constantly on the lookout for the smallest works of God.

But that brings me to the other ways to miss miracles – by not accepting them, anticipating or expecting them, by resenting them, or wanting to earn them.

“I love to give to charity, but I don’t want to be charity. This is why I have so much trouble with grace.”

Can we get past the affront of accepting a free gift?

If we can, we might see the Lord trying to say through the Feeding of the 5,000 and even today, “Here I Am, stay here, spend more time, no need to go away, please accept this, put yourself in My hands, keep your eyes open, I will feed and love you.”

After all, says Matthew 7:11,

“If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him?”

Mini-miracles are the “good gifts” “baskets of bread crumb” treats God brings home to His beloved Children, those who will and do seek him with a childlike faith, those who consider themselves “the little ‘mini miracle’ things in life.”

Well, duh…

Today, try bringing some ‘mini-miracle’ something or other home to a loved one, remind yourself, them, how much indescribable joy God gets from giving.

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

Let us Pray,

O Lord my God, Mighty in Power, Mighty in Word and in Deed. You say that I should have unshakeable faith in You so that I will be upheld. I believe I do, Mighty Lord. I place all my faith in You. You strengthen me. Your holy force keeps my spirit alive and burning fiercely for You. I know that with You I can overcome anything. Thank You for remaining faithful to Your chosen people. Thank You for guiding me in my life and helping me to become a vessel for Your will. I pray that I continue to put my faith and trust in You because You know all things. You know what the hearts of Your people need, and I know You will help me through whatever this life brings. Amen.

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Advent Week Two: What Joy in the Lord? Mary’s Response to Joy – “O My God!” My Lord Truly Knew MY Name!” Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38Evangelical Heritage Version

The Angel Gabriel Appears to the Virgin Mary

²⁶In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.”^[a]

²⁹But she was greatly troubled by the statement and was wondering what kind of greeting this could be. ³⁰The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, because you have found favor with God. ³¹Listen, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus. ³²He 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. ³³He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶Listen, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age even though she was called barren, and this is her sixth month. ³⁷For nothing will be impossible for God.”

³⁸Then Mary said, “See, I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

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

A conversation for the ages ….

The Angel Gabriel suddenly, quietly appears to a young teenager named Mary.

And now, unfolding before each of us is the glorious mystery of a conversation unlike any other in all of the Word of God for His Children as it then takes place.

– some how, today, we are all privy to this moment in Luke’s Gospel Narrative.

The Angel Gabriel appears …. and in his angelic voice …. speaks to Mary ….

“Greetings, YOU who are highly favored!

“The Lord IS with YOU!”

“Blessed are YOU among women!”

“Do not be afraid, MARY, because YOU have found favor with God!”

“Listen, YOU will conceive and give birth to a son, and YOU are to name him Jesus.”

“He WILL be great and WILL be called the Son of the Most High!”

“The Lord WILL give Him the throne of his father David!”

“He WILL reign over the House of Jacob forever!”

“AND his kingdom WILL NEVER end!”

“The Holy Spirit WILL come upon you, and the power of The Most High WILL overshadow YOU!”

“So, the holy one to be born WILL be called the Son of God!”

“Your relative, Elizabeth, has also conceived a son in her old age even though she was called barren, and this IS her sixth month!”

“For nothing is impossible with God!”

Blessing after blessing after blessing is pronounced by the Angel Gabriel.

One after the other, after the other, after the other ….

Indescribable blessings, Unimaginable blessings, are being announced ….

To a stunned teenage girl who is not the least bit sure what is happening in but the few short minutes it might have taken for this conversation to take place.

What can we allow ourselves to imagine are her thoughts at this revelation?

“How can this be…?” she mutters to herself – but still loud enough for the Angel Gabriel to hear her and respond with more blessings than Mary can even grasp.

She heard the Angel of the Lord speak out her name – Mary, as if he had always known it and her – but they had never met before, or have ever been introduced.

“How can this be…?”

“The Angel of the Lord …. KNOWS MY NAME!?!”

That means that “GOD KNOWS MY NAME TOO AND HAS ALWAYS KNOWN IT!”

“I am an anonymous teenager from a quiet little village, going about my daily chores, as are many others on this day, and suddenly I realize “God knows me!”

“GOD KNOWS ME!”

“GOD KNOWS MY NAME!”

The One who created the heavens and earth, by the command of his voice and touch of a finger, knows each of our names.💛

Genesis 1:16 reminds us, “God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.”

“It always makes me smile when I read, “He made the stars also;” as if they were an after thought and not important.”

“My mind cannot even comprehend how easy it was for Almighty God to bring forth the magnificence and beauty of ALL the stars and constellations.”

“Though, obviously anonymous, lesser brilliant than the stars of the night, I am STILL the handiwork of MY God’s finger and containing all His glory!”

“Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.” Isaiah 40:26

“As I look out into the night sky at all the twinkles that stretch as far as my tiny little eyes can see, I am amazed that God calls them each by name and He knows where they ALL are located. Not one of them is missing – and NEITHER AM I!”

“My very thoughts extend to the heart cry of David in Psalm 8:3-9. One who is acquainted with spending nights under a blanket of stars as a shepherd boy.

The young Psalmist boy now declaring the greatness of the Lord with humility and reverence for his grace bestowed on us, BESTOWED ON EVEN ME, MARY!

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?”

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is woman, Mary, that you are even mindful of her,
and the son of man that you care for him?”

“What amazing love God has for each of us, His Children that He even took us into consideration when creating the brilliancy of the heavens. He gave us eyes to see, cared about our comfort to provide and give us each a genuine identity.”

“God, with just a word formed light (setting every star in place, day and night, sun and moon, planets, and every expanse of light) making a way for us to look upward, see the work of His hands, then look down and see ME His handiwork.”

“To now, as I gaze upwards upon the heavens in awesome wonder to all that belongs to Him (Psalm 115:16). A reminder of His love for mankind and how much more His gaze is forever and ever upon us, and WE BELONG TO HIM”

“We never have to question if we are known in this tiny little acre of this tiny little section of the world. For we were not hidden from Him when formed in our mothers womb. He is knows everything about us and loves us without end.”

GOD KNOWS MY NAME!

“What an awesome thought!”

“What a comforting thought!”

“What an incredibly indescribably JOYFUL, JOY-FILLED THOUGHT!”

“Out of all the people in world; God knows MY Name! Out of all the stars and planets in the universe; God knows MY Name, He knows ME. Out of all the animals upon yonder hills and the deep forest; God knows even MY Name!”

“God called Hagar by name.”

“Lonely in the wilderness and crying – He called her, He knew her Name.”

She did not know His Name but in that moment – He KNOWS her Name.

God blessed Hagar with a son, Ishmael … Ishmael … God WILL hear YOU!

Ishmael … The Lord WILL HEAR YOUR AFFLICTION! (Genesis 16:11)

“Think about how important we feel, when so called important people so dryly call us by name – how “so what” anonymous we continue to feel afterwards.”

“Yet, how can we ever allow ourselves to ever imagine; the God of the universe coming to us, but not just “coming to us” but too calling us each by our Name!”

“What Does it mean?”

“My Name is the sum total of who I am.”

“I am not a number…I am not a meaningless symbol.”

“I am God’s own.”

“I am His FRIEND!”

“I am known by the Most High!”

“I am His and He IS mine!”

“He who occupies heaven’s throne, KNOWS MY Name!”

To know a Name is to know ALL there is to know about the person.

“He KNOWS My Name. He KNOWS the good and the bad equally.”

“He sees my heart and my mind and soul immediately at all times; (like even exactly right NOW), He knows all of my thoughts before their manifestation!”

WHAT DOES EVEN ONE WORD OF THIS CONVERSATION MEAN TO US NOW?

I. God Knows YOU.

He knows YOU apart from everyone else.

He knows YOU apart from everyone else with the same name.

He knows you incomparably.

No one knows you like God does.

He knew me before conception.

Before my mother named me, He knew My Name.

Before My Name was written on my birth certificate, He knew My Name.

Before My Mother was born, He knew My Name.

He knew the name she thought about giving me before naming me.

II. God Knows YOU Absolutely.

He knew you too, from your mother’s womb.

He knows your thoughts.

He knows your deeds.

He knows your hurts.

He knows your weakness.

He knows your sickness.

He knows your circumstances.

He knows your down sitting and your uprising.

He knows YOU.

EXACTLY RIGHT IN THIS MOMENT; God KNOWS our Name.

III. God Knows Where You Are At All Times.

Hagar was sent away by Sarai but not beyond the all seeing eyes of God.

Hagar declared; God sees Me.

Her value jumped up immediately.

She was cast aside with her son by Sarai and Abram as a nobody.

But God knew her Name.

To God Hagar was somebody.

You may be down right in this exact moment but God KNOWS your name!

You may be used and refused but God ABSOLUTELY KNOWS your Name!

IV. God Calls Us By Our Name.

Hagar was evicted and unemployed.

Hagar was impregnated by Abram and thrown aside by Sarai.

Hagar was broken by a conspiracy between a husband and a barren woman.

Hagar was hurting and helpless with no solution in sight.

There was no one to help her or her son.

Hagar was setup by Sarai and used up by Abram.

Hagar fell out of favor with the woman who asked her for a sexual favor.

But still God CALLED her by Name.

God will meet you where you end up and He WILL CALL YOU by name.

V. God Knows Your Name. Do you Know His Name?

Is is (amazing) that God knows My Name.

But do we realize it is OUR SALVATION) when WE KNOW His Name?

There’s no other Name given whereby men can be saved.

His Name is a saving name.

His Name is a prayer endorsing Name.

His Name is a healing Name.

His Name is a soothing Name.

His Name is a powerful Name.

His Name is Demon scaring Name.

His Name is sin remitting Name.

His Name is a Death Conquering Name.

His name is a present refuge name.

His Name is a God given Name.

His Name is a Praise Worthy Name.

In this EXACT moment, I dare you, Praise His WORTHY Name, right Now!

VI. One Day God Will Call Our Name to Enter Our Heavenly Home!

John 11:20-26Evangelical Heritage Version

²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house.

²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. ²⁶And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.^[a] Do you believe this?”

Do WE believe this?

Do WE also believe this …. ?

John 14:1-14English Standard Version

I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;^[a] believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?^[b] ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴And you know the way to where I am going.”^[c] ⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.^[d] From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

¹²“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If you ask me^[e] anything in my name, I will do it.

VII. I Know His Name.

All My fears have been hushed because I know His Name.

I go to sleep at night remembering that He KNOWS MY NAME!

I go to sleep at night remembering that I know His Name.

I wake up each morning declaring that He KNOWS MY NAME!

I go to work or I go shopping KNOWING He KNOWS MY NAME!

I eat my meals with my wife thankful WE KNOW HE KNOWS OUR NAMES!

I faced sickness knowing that HE KNEW MY NAME!

I faced sickness knowing that I knew His Name.

My Wife has faced sickness knowing that she KNEW HIS NAME!

My Wife has faced sickness knowing that HE KNEW HER NAME!

I will die peacefully one day, because I KNOW His Name!

Isn’t it an AMAZING thought?

The GOD of the UNIVERSE KNOWS MY NAME!

The God who ordered the stars, who knows them all by name ….

Should also KNOW YOUR NAME and desire to give order to your life?

HMM ….

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

Let us Pray,

Psalm 8 Evangelical Heritage Version

Your Name Is Majestic

Heading

For the choir director. According to gittith.^[a] A psalm by David.

The Glory of God Declared by the Heavens
The Glory of God Declared by Children

¹O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Set this glory of yours above the heavens.^[b]
²From the lips of little children and nursing babies
you have established strength^[c] because of your foes,
to put a stop to the enemy and the avenger.

The Glory of the Son of Man

³Whenever I look up at your heavens, the works of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place—
⁴what is man that you remember him,
the son of man^[d] that you pay attention to him!
⁵Nevertheless, you make him suffer need,
apart from God for a while,^[e]
but you crown him with glory and honor.
⁶You make him the ruler over the works of your hands.
You put everything under his feet:
⁷all flocks and cattle, and even the wild animals,
⁸the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea,
which pass through the currents of the seas.
⁹O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa_ROfRYi-k

https://translate.google.com/

I am Precious in God’s Sight. The God of the Impossible Knows MY whole Name! I Know He Knows All Your Names Too! Isaiah 43:1-7

Isaiah 43:1-7Evangelical Heritage Version

The Lord’s New Act of Salvation

But now this is what the Lord says,
the Lord who created you, O Jacob,
the Lord who formed you, O Israel.
    Do not be afraid, because I have redeemed you.
    I have called you by name. You are mine.
²    When you cross through the waters, I will be with you.
    When you cross the rivers, they will not sweep you away.
    When you walk through fire, you will not be burned,
    and the flame will not set you on fire.

³    Because I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior,
    I gave Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
⁴    Because you are precious and honored in my eyes,
    and I myself love you,
    I will give people in exchange for you,
    and peoples in exchange for your life.
⁵    Do not be afraid, because I am with you.
    From the east I will bring your offspring,
    and from the west I will gather you.
⁶    I will say to the north, “Give them back!”
    and to the south, “Do not hold them.”
    Bring my sons from far away
    and my daughters from the end of the earth—
⁷    everyone who is called by my name,
    everyone I created for my glory,
    everyone I formed,
    yes, everyone I have made.

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

One of those things I really have a hard time with in this Christmas season are the writing an the sending of the traditional array of all those Christmas Cards.

I am always the one who is either incredibly late or incredibly lazy preferring the “contact list” on my smart phone and then dialing the ones I remember I have some kind of almost formal relationship or more than mere acquaintance.

I look at my smart phones contact list which is quite long with nearly every one of the letters of the alphabet having at least three or four and several with more.

Sometimes when I’m wrestling to figure out what is on God’s heart for me to say to them or if I am going to write a Christmas Card to them, what do I say?

Try taking “mental image” of each one, look at the names one by one and pray,

“Lord, I do not know if I remember our last conversation or I do not remember the physical face of this person, what is on your heart for this person, that family?”

“Lord, I have nothing on my heart for this person, this family, I know you know far more than I do , what’s on your heart for this person? How can I pray for them?

The answer from heaven, the Word of God for His Children, came straight away,

“Pray that they will all come to know that they are all precious in my sight.”

So that is what I will be striving to do this year.

Another vision caught my soul, somebody who I hadn’t even met yet or learned anything at all about, that person on the street corner with their signs, the ones who will drive their cars and trucks around me, beside me and long past me and when I drive past the hospitals, rehab centers, hospices, the police stations and the Fire and Rescue stations and the packed Mall Stores, all of the restaurants,

The answer came crashing headlong into my ever questioning spirit again ….

“Even if you send no cards or make no calls, even if you only pray in silence …. “

“Pray they will ALL come to know that they are absolutely precious in my sight.”

“I know everyone of them by name and I desire each of them to know my Name!”

I cannot ever claim I have minimally mastered the art of hearing God’s voice.

But does that answer sound like God to you?

I know that’s how he genuinely wants me to learn to look at each of you, to be communicating the ancient messages of Isaiah 43: 1 -7, be continually praying its ancient truths to all my neighbors as being absolutely precious in his sight.

I haven’t mastered that, yet either.

But it definitely sounds like something original and worth my maximum effort.

Starting a new Christmas Tradition – Pray without Ceasing for my Neighbors!

Drive around some neighborhoods I am a stranger to – Pray Isaiah 43:1-7

Isaiah 43:1-7Easy-to-Read Version

God Is Always With His People

43 Jacob, the Lord created you. Israel, he made you, and now he says, “Don’t be afraid. I saved you. I named you. You are mine. ²When you have troubles, I am with you. When you cross rivers, you will not be hurt. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not hurt you. ³That’s because I, the Lord, am your God. I, the Holy One of Israel, am your Savior. I gave Egypt to pay for you. I gave Ethiopia and Seba to make you mine. ⁴You are precious to me, and I have given you a special place of honor. I love you. That’s why I am willing to trade others, to give up whole nations, to save your life.

⁵“So don’t be afraid, because I am with you. I will gather your children and bring them to you. I will gather them from the east and from the west. ⁶I will tell the north: Give my people to me. I will tell the south: Don’t keep my people in prison. Bring my sons and daughters to me from the faraway places. ⁷Bring to me all the people who are mine—the people who have my name. I made them for myself. I made them, and they are mine.

(Neighbors, Neighborhoods)

The Lord created you.

He made you, and now the Lord God says, “Do not be afraid, I saved you.”

“I have named you!”

“You are Mine!”

“When you have troubles, I am with you. when you cross rivers, you will not be hurt. When you walk through fire, you’ll not be burned; flames wont hurt you.”

“That’s because, I, the Lord, am your God, I am your Savior.”

“I gave my only Son, Jesus for you. I gave him to you to make you mine.”

“You are all absolutely precious to me, and I have given you a place of honor.”

“I Love you with an everlasting Love, that is why I gave my own Son for you.”

“To save your life!”

“So don’t be afraid, because I am with you. I will gather your children and bring them to you. I will gather them from the east and from the west.

I will tell the north: Give my people to me. I will tell the south: Don’t keep my people in prison. Bring my sons and daughters to me from the faraway places.

Bring to me all the people who are mine—the people who have my name. I made them for myself. I made each and everyone of them, and they are mine.”

I do not have to know even one of their names, I do not even have to know who they are in the grand scheme which is God’s own exclusive plan for all of them.

I just have to recognize the power of God in the Word of God for His Children to make a difference, will one day, perhaps immediately, make all the difference.

When I’m driving around, I’m walking around, and I’m praying Isaiah 43:1-7,

What might be the possible outcomes of God working in and through my neighbors?

From the first verses of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation, provides endless examples of how the presence of the Lord empowers his people to live for him.

Take Moses, for example.

He was convinced that without God’s presence in his life, it was useless for him to attempt anything.

When he spoke face to face with the Lord, he stated boldly,

“If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15).

He was saying, “Lord, if you’re not with us, we are not going to make it. We will not go a single step without the assurance of your presence.”

God’s presence is what sets us apart from nonbelievers.

The Old Testament is filled with accounts of great blessings that came to those who had God’s presence with them.

For instance, God’s presence was so evident in Abraham’s life that even the heathen around him recognized the difference between their lives and his.

Heathen king Abimelech said, “God is with you in all that you do” (Genesis 21:22).

God promised Joshua that no enemy could stand against him when his presence was with him:

“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage” (Joshua 1:5-6).

When God’s Spirit is present in your life, you can be a conqueror because you securely place 100% trust in his promise to be with you in everything you do.

God shared with His Prophet Isaiah a special promise he makes to all he loves:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine … I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior … Fear not, for I am with you” (Isaiah 43:1, 3, 5).

With God’s presence abiding in you, you can go through any fire and not just survive, but be kept safe and protected through it all.

Just as it was with Moses, Abraham and countless others God touched because someone prayed, a high powered testimony of God’s presence in your life today.

We are God’s creations, we have come from him, his children, and whether we like it or not he will always feel an unshakeable connection to us, a desire for us.

God loves us with a parent’s love, only better than any human parent can do.

He created us, but then, maybe to pin the thought down a little stronger,

the thought is repeated with a slightly different spin in the next phrase, “he who formed you, O Israel.”

Can you hear a little more care in that?

He formed us.

He is forming us every day.

The Bible tells us over and over again that God is molding us.

He teaches us.

He disciplines those whom he loves.

We like to think God’s exclusive job is to just give us lots of cool stuff, lie the abundance of His life, but the Bible talks much more about how he brings tests, adversities into our lives to teach us His precious character and make us strong.

When I was trying to learn all I can about just what it means when God said we are precious in his sight, I looked up other places in the Hebrew Old Testament where the same Hebrew word, translated “precious” here, is used.

It’s used of precious stones, maybe diamonds or emeralds or rubies, things that are kingly expensive, just plain hard to get at and also very beautiful to look at.

1 Kings 7:9, the word is used to describe the massive foundation stones used in building Solomon’s palace, “costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front.”

Take some quality time to meditate about a huge stone, weighing tons, maybe 5 feet deep, 8 feet long, 3 or 4 feet high, cut by hand out of a quarry, dragged by hand across miles of countryside without anything close to what we would consider a decent road, shaped so the front and back were smooth and the sides shaped so that it would fit perfectly with the other stones brought together.

This was before the days of high tech power tools or dynamite and it took an incredible amount of people doing an impossible amount of work to prepare even one of those stones. Every one that made it, that got fitted perfectly into the building had a huge investment in it and must have been worth an awful lot.

Is there anyone here reading this today in whom God has not already made an incredible investment to make you what you are today?

He is steadily building His church into His Image with a great deal of care, molding each and every one of us very carefully, chipping away at our rough spots, the parts that stick out and keep the other stones from fitting close to us.

It’s a huge job.

It’s an impossible job

He has invested an awful lot in us.

And that makes us even more precious.

And often times when he is chipping away at our rough spots and those tests and adversities start to fly fast and thick we can feel like he’s mad at us or has abandoned us, but no, he’s loving us and teaching us.

He’s molding us.

And we often look back at the darkest times of our lives and look at the lessons we learned there, the growth we experienced and, looking back we would not wish it has been any other way because those lessons, his wise forming, was so incomprehensibly valuable, so undeniably precious and so indescribably God.

Time shows us God’s wisdom and love are always there if we will accept them.

The first verse goes on, “Do not fear, I have redeemed you.”

That’s another reason that God loves us.

He has redeemed us.

And here we need to give some background.

These words of Isaiah are not addressed to wonderful children of God who are hanging in the temple all day, studying God’s word, obeying it wholeheartedly.

He’s writing this to a nation of Israel that had squandered God’s gift of the temple and now it had been destroyed.

When things had gotten tough they had turned their backs on God, making alliances with pagan kings, serving pagan gods.

And as they set off on their own in defiance of the god who created them and had formed them.

They were invaded.

Jerusalem was destroyed.

Most of the people were forced to migrate into exile in faraway lands. You can read about it in the Hebrew Testament in Second Kings and Second Chronicles.

These words of God’s love in Isaiah 43 weren’t spoken in a time when God’s people made it easy to love them.

They had disobeyed terribly.

They had lost their freedom and their land.

And if you back up and read the previous chapter, Isaiah 42, you will see some of the poignant phrases used to describe how God saw his people at the time.

They were:

That they are blind towards him.

They had been robbed and plundered by their enemies.

They are now trapped by their foolishness.

And who behaves well when they feel trapped by their own foolishness?

And God is really angry with them.

But it’s the anger of someone who cares. Because they are precious in his sight he wants so much more for them and he just doesn’t give up working on them.

That’s when this word “redemption” is needed.

God’s children are in trouble.

And he was taking it upon himself to sacrifice everything to bail them out.

If we take the time to ponder 2022, we may find ourselves identifying with it.

Being a parent at parent-teacher conferences is fun when your kid is the one who has all the “A” papers posted on the bulletin boards at school and when you know the teacher is just going to rave about how well your kid is doing.

But what if your kid is the one who always gives the teacher a very hard time, and there will be none of your child’s homework posted in the classroom, and he has carved nasty words into the top of his desk, and other parents are getting mad at you for what your kid has done to their kid.

That’s when love is tested.

That’s when the question gets harder,

“am I going to sacrifice everything so I can be there for my child or not?”

Our God sees himself as our redeemer, the family member who bails us out when we get in trouble.

In the Hebrew Testament, Abraham’s nephew Lot made a foolish decision to settle in the immoral city of Sodom.

One day Sodom was raided and Lot and his family were captured to be sold as slaves and all his property was stolen.

Well, old Uncle Abraham took off in hot pursuit with his servants and they made a surprise attack upon those raiders and he got his nephew back out of trouble.

In one of the most incredible stories of the Bible, the prophet Hosea had a wife who betrayed him, having affair after affair.

Finally she left him altogether.

She became a prostitute.

Then one day he found her up for sale in a slave market, used up, spiritually hardened, embittered. And Hosea redeemed his wife. He bought her out of slavery and he brought her home again and he cared for her and he loved her.

I hope we never come to speak of God’s love for us lightly.

He has paid such an impossibly high price for us.

Jesus died on the cross to redeem us from our sins.

He has put his precious name upon us, and we have repeatedly brought high dishonor upon that precious name.

But he’s our parent, our teacher, our husband, our redeemer.

He has invested so much in every single one of us we are precious in his sight.

Now go outside look around, walk around, drive around your neighborhoods.

Do you see anyone who is not absolutely precious in God’s sight?

We all probably can find someone who rubs us the wrong way.

We can all find somebody whom we know or at least suspect still needs a lot of God’s shaping before they are finished.

Let’s help each other spot them, anybody who is somebody who still needs some of God’s exclusive shaping, a lot of God’s shaping raise both your hands.

We all should have our hands up.

We may see somebody we suspect is off in exile right now, feeling very far from God, desperately grasping at straws trying to get their life back under control.

Maybe you can see that they aren’t making wise choices in that desperation.

Maybe they are uncomfortable to have around.

Maybe you can see they still have a lot of rough edges that need trimming.

But is there anyone in all of those neighborhoods who is not absolutely precious in God’s sight?

Remember how Solomon’s Temple was carefully built? It’s when the stones all come together out of the quarry, they are first hewn, then by struggle, brought to the area where they are to be placed, fitted close together that imperfections show up and out and final trimming can happen and all the stones be perfected.

He loves us when we are unlovely.

He is so committed to us that he keeps working on us, chipping away on our rough edges.

Sometimes he uses us to knock each other’s rough edges off.

Sometimes that person who just doesn’t seem to fit near you at all is just the exact person you need to show you, reveal, what work you still need done.

Verses 5 and 6 talk about God gathering the scattered Israelites from the four corners of the earth, north, south, east and west, gathering them together.

How many of us will walk or drive south today?

How many of us will walk or drive north today?

How many of us will walk or drive east today?

How many of us will walk or drive west today?

How many have rely on GPS to get around?

Look around you – at all those neighbors and all those neighborhoods too,

He’s gathering the stones to build something here. I don’t know yet all of what it will be. But every last one of us has a place because every one of us is precious.

And when he brings us stones close together and things start to rub, we can be tempted to push away.

But what kind of building can God build if the stones refuse to be shaped?

Or they themselves insist on leaving big gaps between themselves, or they look at that stone that just came in from the quarry and they see the rough edges and they say, send it back, we don’t want it, it is not precious, just throw it far away?

No, God brings us together so we can see the spots that need trimming down.

And the closer we come to one another and the more we rub against each other the more opportunity we have to grow and be conformed into his image.

And so when we feel the rubbing start to happen, we don’t push away.

We need each other.

We are all absolutely precious in the sight of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit!

We need to learn how all of God plans to fit every single one of us together.

We need to learn to lovingly adapt our lives to each other.

We need to learn to talk things out when there are rough spots.

We need to see through God’s eyes, that every one of us is precious in His sight.

Take a walk through your neighborhood – Pray for all of those precious to God.

Take a drive through your neighborhoods – Pray for all of those precious to God.

Start a new Christmas tradition ….

Unleash our PRECIOUS God ….

Unleash His PRECIOUS Son Jesus Christ ….

Unleash God, the PRECIOUS Holy Spirit ….

Imagine all of the precious Miracles which are about to unfold before you ….

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

Let us Pray,

To our God and soon coming Savior, I give You thanks. God, I pray today that You will reveal the fullness of yourself to me and each of those placed in my life. As we walk and drive around our neighbors and our neighborhoods, May we each have that precious encounter from the One and Only true and living God. I pray that the desires of our hearts shall be to seek after You that we may know You, experience You and we will all learn how to be men and women precious after God’s own heart, 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.”

³Listen! 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!
⁴Fill in the valleys,
    and level the mountains and hills.
Straighten the curves,
    and smooth out the rough places.
⁵Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
    The Lord has spoken!”^[a]

⁶A 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.
⁷The grass withers and the flowers fade
    beneath the breath of the Lord.
    And so it is with people.
⁸The grass withers and the flowers fade,
    but the word of our God stands forever.”

⁹O 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!”
¹⁰Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.
    He will rule with a powerful arm.
    See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
¹¹He 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

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

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

³All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. ⁴He 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. ⁵For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. ⁶Even 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. ⁷We 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.

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

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

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

⁷The Lord keeps you from all harm
and watches over your life.
⁸The 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

³I 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] ⁴He 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.”

⁵And 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.” ⁶And 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. ⁷All 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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Exodus 40:34-38Amplified Bible

The Glory of the Lord

John 14:1-12New Living Translation

Jesus, the Way to the Father

John 14:23-26New Living Translation

Ephesians 2:11-22New Living Translation

Oneness and Peace in Christ

A Temple for the Lord

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Luke 2:8-11Amplified Bible

Luke 2:8-11Complete Jewish Bible

Genesis 46:33-34Complete Jewish Bible

Acts 5:34-37English Standard Version

Luke 20:19-25English Standard Version

Paying Taxes to Caesar

John 1:1-5Amplified Bible

The Deity of Jesus Christ

Luke 2:12-20Complete Jewish Bible

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Luke 2:8-15 World English Bible

John 14:19-31World English Bible

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Luke 2:15-20World English Bible

Psalm 18:31-35World English Bible

Psalm 144World English Bible

By David.

Psalm 16World English Bible

A Poem by David.

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Luke 2:15-20Authorized (King James) Version

Psalm 150

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Luke 2:8-20 Common English Bible

Announcement to shepherds

Luke 2:8-14New English Translation

The Shepherds’ Visit

Luke 2:15-20New English Translation

Luke 2:15New English Translation

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Psalm 77English Standard Version

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

Luke 2:25-35New Living Translation

The Prophecy of Simeon

Mark 6:30-44New Living Translation

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

Romans 1:19-22 New Living Translation

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Luke 1:26-38Evangelical Heritage Version

The Angel Gabriel Appears to the Virgin Mary

John 11:20-26Evangelical Heritage Version

John 14:1-14English Standard Version

I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

Psalm 8 Evangelical Heritage Version

Your Name Is Majestic

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The Glory of God Declared by the HeavensThe Glory of God Declared by Children

The Glory of the Son of Man

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Isaiah 43:1-7Evangelical Heritage Version

The Lord’s New Act of Salvation

Isaiah 43:1-7Easy-to-Read Version

God Is Always With His People

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Isaiah 40:1-11New Living Translation

Comfort for God’s People

Isaiah 40:6-8New Living Translation

2 Corinthians 1:3-7New Living Translation

God Offers Comfort to All

Psalm 121New Living Translation

Psalm 121

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

Revelation 21:3-7New Living Translation

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The Glory of God Declared by the Heavens
The Glory of God Declared by Children