The Greatest News Of All

“Take the year 1809. The international scene was tumultuous. Napoleon was sweeping through Austria; blood was flowing freely. Nobody then cared about babies. But the world was overlooking some terribly significant births. 

“For example, William Gladstone was born that year. He was destined to become one of England's finest statesman. That same year, Alfred Tennyson was born to an obscure minister and his wife. The child would one day greatly affect the literary world in a marked manner. On the American continent, Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And not far away in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe began his eventful, albeit tragic, life. It was also in that same year that a physician named Darwin and his wife named their child Charles Robert. And that same year produced the cries of a newborn infant in a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. The baby's name? Abraham Lincoln.

“If there had been news broadcasts at that time, I'm certain these words would have been heard: "The destiny of the world is being shaped on an Austrian battlefield today." But history was actually being shaped in the cradles of England and America. Similarly, everyone thought taxation was the big news when Jesus was born. But a young Jewish woman cradled the biggest news of all: the birth of the Savior.”*    

“In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:8–11).

This is truly the greatest news of all. One was born Who would deliver us from our sins.  Praise God for a Savior!

God loves you!

Mike

*Adapted from Charles Swindoll; sermonillustrations.com

Patience Isn't Indifference

“We often confuse God’s timing with ours. A country newspaper had been running a series of articles on the value of church attendance. One day, a letter to the editor was received in the newspaper office. It read, “Print this if you dare. I have been trying an experiment. I have a field of corn which I plowed on Sunday. I planted it on Sunday. I did all the cultivating on Sunday. I gathered the harvest on Sunday and hauled it to my barn on Sunday. I find that my harvest this October is just as great as any of my neighbors’ who went to church on Sunday. So where was God all this time?” The editor printed the letter, but added his reply at the bottom. “Your mistake was in thinking that God always settles his accounts in October.”

“That’s often our mistake as well, isn’t it — thinking that God should act when and how we want him to act, according to our timetable rather than his. The fact that our vision is limited, finite, unable to see the end from the beginning, somehow escapes our mind. So we complain; we get frustrated; we accuse God of being indifferent to us; we do not live by faith” (Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith for Ordinary Time; via Sermons.com newsletter).*

Some believe that if God doesn't immediately punish disobedience and indifference, He never will.  But there could be a reason for His withholding of judgment.  There were mockers in Peter’s day who castigated Jesus for not coming in their generation as He promised (2 Peter 3:3-4; Matthew 16:27-28; 24.34).  After all, it had been 35 years or so and He hadn’t returned yet.  The reason for the delay according to Peter was to provide an opportunity for repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  But don’t doubt God’s resolve just because He is patient.  Jesus did come again in judgment through the agency of the Roman army and judged Jerusalem and the temple, all within the window of that generation just as he promised.

God loves you!

Mike

*Michael Duduit, preaching.com

Take Courage

“And as a great dissension was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks. But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.” When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul” (Acts 23:10–12).

Things hadn’t been going well for Paul and they were about to get worse.  He had traveled to Jerusalem to worship and deliver financial aid to the church in the area.  But he ends up being falsely accused of anti-Jewish teaching and of desecrating the temple.  His opponents drag him away with the goal of putting him to death but he is rescued by a contingent of Roman soldiers.  Once removed from immediate danger, the apostle is given an opportunity to address his accusers.  That goes pretty well until he brings up going to the Gentiles and then the riot begins anew.  Eventually, the Roman commander assembles the Sanhedrin and sets Paul before them, hoping to get an answer to what the fuss was all about.  That gathering immediately devolves into more chaos as revealed in the verses above.

Wow! Talk about a rough day!  If Jesus loved Paul, surely He would rescue him out of the struggle.  But he doesn’t.  Instead, He calls him to be courageous in the midst of the difficulty.  Rescue doesn’t always take the form of escape.  Sometimes it looks like courageously leaning on the One Who has overcome the world (John 16:33).  When we are battered by the storms of life, it would be good to remember the words of the Master to his disciples on a stormy night long ago: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27).

God loves you!

Mike