Selfless or Selfish

A major theme of the Sermon not the Mount is the spiritual life in Christ characterized by supernatural selflessness. Jesus said, apart from me you can do nothing. After he taught them the beatitudes Jesus said, You’ve heard it said…. they had been taught by the Pharisees who were zealous for the letter of the law. However, the Pharisees did not understand the spirit of the law. Jesus came to deliver a new law of the spirit of life in Christ.

Jesus said, You have heard about the law of sin and death… an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you love your enemies, bless them who despise you and persecute you. As the Apostle Paul said, it’s not I, but Christ who lives in me… I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Jesus continued, if you only love those who love you in return, don’t even the hated tax-gatherers do that? Perfection is not in the nature of the flesh we inherited from Adam… the love of God is upside down from worldly motives. The world teaches that we should make regular deposits into a resentment bank. When those we live with, work with, and associate with offend us and use us, don’t get mad, just get even. Store up resentment and with a heart of vengeance and retaliation, seek “just retribution.” However, Jesus said, if someone slaps you on the cheek, then turn the other cheek. If someone steals your clothes, then give him your coat also. Love your enemies, do good to those who slander you, speak evil of you and despitefully use you, for great is your reward in heaven.

Forsaking our sinful selves and mourning over the sin that has separated our hearts from God’s heart is the beginning of approaching God’s throne of grace. With a heart of meekness and humility we can relinquish our own lives under the lordship of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then he will give us his nature… the nature of the spirit of God in Christ in us the hope of glory.

The gospel is a paradox. It’s discouraging to the flesh but encouraging to the holy spirit of His righteousness. Jesus is come for the rising and the falling of men… the difference is whether we confess Him as Lord… as master of our lives as born again believers of the truth of the word of God made flesh.

The average Christian guy has one foot in the church and one foot in the world. He has not committed his way unto the Lord. He has difficulty with understanding the unconditional love of God. He struggles with admitting that he is weak in his own power. He is anxious and worried over the things of this world that consume his time and energy…. his family, his work, his marriage, and his relationships. He is unwilling to work on his marriage and an intimate meaningful relationship with his wife. Even though he has been to Christian retreats and has participated in small group meetings, he feels like he should throw in the spiritual towel because the things of the spirit haven’t made a difference in his life. He questions his salvation and feels like a loser when he’s around devout dedicated Christian men. He’s uncomfortable on spiritual turf and cannot identify with the preacher’s message. He avoids situations where he will be called on to pray or share something from the Word. He has a hard time trusting other men and does not have a best friend. The average Christian guy is a casual Christian. Casual Christians become casualties in the spiritual battle.

After a message, Pete approached a man who was standing in the back of the church. He asked him, what’s on your mind? The man answered, this morning I woke up and found a note from my wife that said, If you want to save this marriage then go see Pete. Pete asked him, Are you willing to do whatever it takes to save this marriage? The man searched his heart and then answered honestly, Probably not.

What is the distinguishing feature of a Christian man? What does the Christian man do more than others? After Solomon had written the book of Ecclesiastes, his treatise about the vanity and emptiness of this world’s empty promises, he came to this conclusion: Fear, respect, honor and love God and keep his commandments… for this is the whole duty of man. As the Prophet Micah said, And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

The Lord’s bondservant must not strive… he must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all, apt and able to teach, patient, gently correcting with the Word of God those who oppose themselves. … for it is the kindness, goodness, grace and mercy of God that calls a man to repentance. Jesus said, come unto me all ye who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…. for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

That we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

In An Upside Down World

Jesus’ sermon on the mount encourages us to look at ourselves in the mirror and see what’s really in our hearts. Jesus said, seven times “You’ve heard it said… but I say unto you…”. When we see the truth through Christ’s eyes behind our eyes, then we will see that the world is upside down from the truth of the Word of God.

The world says you should get even with those who’ve wronged you. But Jesus said, if someone steals your clothes, then give him you coat also. If someone slaps you on the cheek, then turn the other cheek. When we live for the god of self, we cannot live for the true God.

The devil appealed to Eve’s selfish ego in the Garden of Eden. He questioned the love of God and the word of God. He said, If you disobey God and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you won’t need God. You’ll be like God… dont trust God, he doesn’t love you. He wants you to remain ignorant. Trust your own knowledge and intelligence. Then you can worship yourself instead of God. The devil has been preaching the same lie ever since and the world has fallen, worshiping the God of self.

Pride goeth before the fall. In the midst of a fallen world, Jesus said, don’t think less of yourself, think nothing of yourself. As the Apostle Paul said, In my flesh that I inherited from Adam’s fall, there is no good thing. Jesus said, In order to be my disciple, then forsake yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me. In order to follow in the way he’s prepared for us, we must crucify the old nature that we inherited from Adam. Then we can follow the Lord from a heart of love, meekness, humility, joy, and thankfulness.

In an upside down world, Jesus contrasts the beautiful attitudes of the spirit of life in Christ with the worldly attitudes of the flesh. The Sermon on the Mount separates Christ-followers from the followers of the god of this world…. those whose eyes the devil has blinded lest the glorious light of the gospel of truth should shine unto them.

It’s not about the cost, the pain, and the suffering of following Him… instead it’s about the value… the value of following him from a heart of love. We cannot love like Jesus loved without his valuable gift of the Holy Spirit. The spirit of life in Christ is different from the life of the fallen flesh we inherited from Adam and Eve. God loved us before we could love him. The love of God is not of this world. His love is the motivation for the spirit he gave to us as the perfect gift, paid for by the innocent blood of Jesus Christ sacrificed on our behalf. He loved us not because we were deserving of His love, but because love is God’s nature not ours. We can love him only because he first loved us…. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

A man of God’s desire is to learn to love and live like Jesus. A follower of Christ says, I want to learn to become just like my Lord. Colossians 2:6-7 says, As you have received Christ Jesus, so walk ye in him. Rooted and built up in him and stablished in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

God is no respecter of persons. He is however, a respecter of His word. As we walk in the light as Christ is in the light, the blood of Jesus Chrsit will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The cleansing is in the walking.. in following him according to the way that he’s prepared for us.

According to Galatians…. neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing. Everything we can do out of a religious motivation will come to no avail. The only thing that accomplishes God’s purpose in our lives is believing faith that works in love. Anything done from a selfish motive will amount to nothing. It will be useless and empty and devoid of purpose. God called us as his workmanship, his poem, his poetry in motion to walk the path of following our Lord motivated by a heart of love. For we are his workmanship, his great work of art created in Christ Jesus unto good works that he has prepared in advance for us to walk according to his purpose… that we should be to the praise fo the glory of His grace.

According to the charity checklist in 1 Corinthians 13, Love suffereth long and is kind. Love vaunteth not itself… it is not boastful and is not puffed up. It is not prideful or self serving. It is never joyful about injustice. It eagerly believes the best for others. It hold no grudges, it does not think evil of others. The love of God beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and endureth all things according to the word of our loving Father.

The things of this world will soon be passed. Only that which is done in the love of Christ shall last. Love never faileth. Now abides faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is the love of God.

The love of God calls us to a higher purpose. With the spirit of God in Christ in us God has made us a new creation. Old things are passed away, all things are become new. Therefore each new day is an opportunity to walk in the newness of life.

Jesus said, love your enemies. Bless them that persecute you, slander you and despitefully use you. Recompense to no man evil for evil. From a heart of the unconditional love of God Jesus said, in that you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.

The upside down world thinks that freedom means freedom not to have my so called human rights violated. However Galatians says, freedom is not to use our liberty in Christ as an opportunity to sin, but to serve others from a heart of love. This is the example of Jesus Chrsit himself… for in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him. Because he paid the price for our sins, we can love him by loving others with a selfless heart of meekness and humility.

That with a heart overflowing with the Love of God, we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

A New You in ‘22

The world teaches us to “look out for number one.” Rugged individualism is a hallmark of so-called “American exceptionalism.” However, exceptionalism according to Jesus is self-less and not self-ish.”

After he had taught them about the beatitudes, Jesus said, You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…. However, If someone slaps you on the cheek, then turn the other cheek. The focus is not on the world’s reaction to recompense evil for evil, but to actively pursue the spirit of God’s love, mercy, and grace with Christ’s heart behind our heart.

The world says to seek our own selfish desires when our so-called human rights are violated. However, be careful… any fool can claim his “rights” and any demon will make sure he gets them. Jesus said, don’t think little of yourselves, instead think nothing of yourselves…. Set your affections on things above, not on things of this world. For in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. The root of the problem is the insidious preoccupation with self. The kingdom of self is heavily defended territory.

In every choice we face we consider two questions… the first is what will I get out of this decision? The second is, what will it cost me? If a person makes a decision out of selfish motives, he will soon quit. However, if it’s done for the good of those we love, then the commitment will persist.

Service to others is learned in the crucible of life. Pete recalls that he ran out of a medication and called the pharmacy to see why they did not notify him for his automatic refill. He called the number that the pharmacy gave him to settle Medicare questions and was connected to an agent in a foreign country….. Even though Pete could not understand what the man said, he spent an hour on the phone and then after the call he hung up frustrated. Then he called his doctor’s office. The doctor’s assistant said, let me call your insurance and I’ll call you right back. She called back in five minutes and said, I’ve resolved your problem. Pete thought to himself, I’ve wasted an hour of my time and I could have resolved this problem in only five minutes. Then God’s still small voice spoke to Pete. “You need to pray for the guy on the phone who did his best to help you. He did his job with kindness and courtesy. He has a family to support and you need to thank God for him and his heart to serve. It’s not about you…. you need to live to bless others and not yourself.”

George Meuller said, I recall the day that I died unto myself. From that day on, I strived to hold myself accountable only to my Lord Jesus Christ. As Galatians 2:20 says, I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirt and those who mourn over the sins that separated our hearts from Gods hearts. Blessed are the meek…. those who are humble to receive God’s instruction in righteousness. In an upside down world, face the problem of self by forgetting self and pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

In Roman times, a Roman soldier could require any person in the empire to carry his pack one mile. This was required by Roman law. However, Jesus said, if he compels you to carry his pack, carry his pack a second mile. The first mile is of obligation. The second is from a heart of love. Jesus said, in love serve one another.

Pete often counsels couples whose marriage is on the brink of dissolution. One woman who was broken and depressed unloaded a three page list of sins her husband had committed against her. After she finished, Pete said, I’m sure what you said about your husband is true. However, I’m more concerned about your attitude and your depression caused by a judgmental spirit of complaining and condemnation. She answered, God didn’t call me to be a doormat. Pete said, Which God are you talking about?

In Mark 7 is the account of the woman who was known to the townspeople as a sinner. She entered the house of the Pharisee who had invited Jesus to his house for dinner. She bowed down at Jesus’ feet weeping. She poured precious ointment on his feet, washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. It’s difficult to understand the significance of her actions without understanding the customs of ancient biblical culture. Psalms 56:8 says, … put thou my tears in thy bottle, are they not in thy book? Many people saved in a bottle the tears they shed righteously in prayer and in suffering for the Lord. They were buried with their tear bottle and thought that the weight of the tears in they saved would determine their rewards in heaven. This woman poured her righteous tears, her most prized possession on Jesus’ feet along with precious ointment. Then she washed Jesus’ feet with her hair, considered her crowning glory. This is a picture of humility to serve her lord and master… she considered her crowning glory and her most precious possessions worthy to be offered as a sacrifice at Jesus’ feet.

Jesus himself washed his disciples’ feet in the upper room after the last supper. Jesus said, I have done this as an example of serving one another with a heart of humility. Jesus had said to them before, that which you have done unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

The poem one solitary life says….

Blessed are the poor, mournful, and meek… when we with a heart of humility and give up our own selfish selves and meekness seek to bless others, then we too will be blessed….

Jesus’ teaching in the sermon on the Mount is upside down from the world’s definition of success. Jesus himself was our example of humility.

The essay One Solitary Life by James Allen Francis is about the contrast between Jesus’ life and the things that the world holds in high esteem…He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn’t go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned–put together–have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.

One characteristic of a Man of God is that he wants to spend the rest of his life learning to become more like his Lord Jesus Christ. For a new you in ‘22, resolve to pray Psalm 139… search me O God and know my heart… Examine me and see if there is any wicked way in me… and lead me in the way everlasting. As David prayed, Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

You’ve given me so much,
Lord Please give me too,
A heart that is always grateful to you..

That we may live to the praise of the glory of your grace,
Your brother in Christ,

New Beginning, Faithful Men, and Men of God

According to 2 Corinthians 5, If any man is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are past away, behold all things are become new. As we walk with him and progress through the way he has prepared for us, we become new day by day. Then In retrospect we can look back on the road we’ve travelled with him and we can see the progress we have made and the growth we have enjoyed in his presence.

God is a God of new beginnings. Our old reputation, our old habits, our old man nature has passed away… in our work, in our relationships, in our marriage, in our immediate family and in our extended family…. especially within the family of God. The grace of God has no expiration date… for Jesus said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

The devil will accuse us of having fallen short of God’s righteous standard. He will tell us that we have failed to press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He’ll make us beat ourselves up for our unworthiness in our own works and in our own behavior. If we look to the world, we’ll be distressed, if we look to others we’ll be stressed, and if we look in the mirror we will be depressed. But if we look to the Lord, we’ll be blessed.

Proverbs 20:6 says, who can find a faithful and trustworthy man? According to Ephesians 4, What matters is that a man be found faithful… faithful to follow the Lord walking worthy of the calling wherewith he has called us according to his Word and according to His will. Faithfulness is in walking in the light as He is in the light… then the blood of Jesus Chrsit will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

In Matthew 26, after Jesus met with his disciples in the upper room he said to them, “You will all fall away from me this night for it is written I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep from the flock shall be scattered.” This was the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy. Peter responded that he would follow Jesus even to death. Then Jesus said, to Peter… “Before the cock crows twice, you shall deny me thrice.” Peter needed to learn a difficult lesson… a lesson in humility.. He needed to understand that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.. in my own power, I am powerless to follow faithfully from a heart of love and grace.

A wise man said, I cannot keep my vows, but my vows keep me. When a person is committed to his vows, the decision has already been made. Keeping vows means to burn the bridges so that you cannot return the way you came. You can only move forward. As Jesus said, abide in me and I will abide in you. I am the vine and ye are the branches, apart from me you cannot bear fruit.

The apostle Peter’s sin was not premeditated. He was impetuous and lived in the moment… As he warmed himself by the fire of the courtyard outside of Chiaphas’ house, a girl approached him and said, I recognize from your accent that you are a Galilean, one of Jesus’ followers… Peter denied Jesus, he said, “I know not the man.” Then the cock crowed and Jesus locked eyes with Peter… Peter went away and wept bitterly. Peter was broken of his pride and his self sufficiency… Thank God for breaking our hearts for what breaks his.

After the resurrection, Jesus had said to his disciples, I will meet you all in Galilee. The disciples were offended when Jesus said that they would fall away. They were offended because they trusted in their own prideful ability. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.. as Jesus said, apart from me you can do nothing.

The problem with the Apostles is that they did not know their own hearts. According to Timothy, the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. There was only one traitor among the disciples, but they were all deserters. When Jesus was arrested, Jesus said to the Roman soldiers, Take me but let these others go. Then disciples ran off into the night.

Without the grace of God the nature of man is judgementalism and a critical spirit. We especially judge ourselves unto self condemnation. However, according to 1 John 3, even though our heart condemns us, God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things. God knows that his love and grace covers a multitude of sins.

The people of Jesus’ time were astonished that Jesus met with publicans (tax collectors), prostitutes, known sinners, and those of questionable reputation. Jesus said, I have not come to minister to the healthy but to the sick. When the people asked Jesus, What’’s your plan?, he pointed to a desposed tax collector and lowly Galilean fishermen and said, those guys over there, they are the plan.

God takes the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. This applies to the people he chooses and also to the trials and tribulations of life.

Jesus called and is calling men of God. What is a man of God and how is he different from men of the world? What is God’s value and purpose of a man of God? When you call a man, “Man of God,” most men will look down and look away. They feel unworthy of such a title. They think a man of God is one who serves enough, gives enough, studies the Bible enough, loves enough and teaches enough. When is enough enough?

There are three characteristics of a man of God. The first is that he loves Jesus. After the resurrection, the disciples went back to the Sea of Galilee to fish. Jesus came to the shore and asked the men, have you caught anything? They said, we’ve fished all night but have caught nothing. Then John realized that it was Jesus who was speaking to them. Then Peter jumped out of the boat and swam and then ran to Jesus on the shore. Peter knew that Jesus was a man of grace and reconciliation, not of judgement and condemnation.

When Jesus cooked the fish on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he restored them into fellowship with him. Then Jesus asked Peter, “do you love me?” Loving Jesus Chrsit is the first quality of a man of God.

The second question of a man of God is, have you given your heart to Christ?

The third question to determine if a man is a man of God is, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life learning to become just like Jesus?”

A Man of God answers yes to each of these questions. Discipleship training is learning to become like Jesus. Many men in church today do not have the opportunity to say yes to discipleship because it’s not popular in many churches. However, when the student is ready, the teacher will come. The teacher is the Holy Spirit… according to John 14, Jesus said, I need to leave so that the comforter can come. The comforter is the Holy Spirit who comes alongside to help us and to teach us all things… The spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death… For Jesus Christ who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifdce for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him… For he hath shown thee o man what is good. And what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God…

…that we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Michael Low 0:00
Well, God bless you all. To me, this is a rare privilege. And I’m honored to be in your presence. You know, people asked me well, you know so much of the word because normally, when I’m talking to people I’ll quote Scripture is something because that’s normally what’s on my mind. But what I’m thinking is I’m humbled in you guys’s presence, because you guys teach me. There’s a poem, it’s called, sermons we see. And the theme of that poem is, I’d rather see a sermon than here when any day and that’s who you are to me. Your sermons we see because the Bible says we’re all living epistles known and read of all men, as I’m humbled in your presence. You guys teach me all the time, because the word of God is profitable for doctrine, how to believe rightly right, believing for reproof, that tells us where we’re not believing rightly, and how to get back to right believing correction. We don’t like these two words reproof and correction, but correction means to restore to an upright position. That’s why we’re here to restore one another to an upright position. Then when we have our upright position, our vertical position in line with God, our horizontal relationships are much more enjoyable. So it’s great to be with all y’all because you guys teach me doctrine, reproof and correction, which is instruction righteousness all the time. So I’m also honored to have my son Aaron, and his son, Caden, my son and my grandson here from North Carolina.

And having them here reminds me of for him, Bill had mentioned for him for him is a is is a discipleship training program where we train and disciple one another. The theme of for him is, as you have received Christ, Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and grounded and built up in him and established in the faith that you have been taught, abounding there, and with thanksgiving, and the birth that comes to mind when people asked me you will with 4am about the verse that comes to mind is Second Timothy chapter two, verse two, where it says, that wish thou has heard of me, among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also, that’s the definition of for him, because in that one short verse, there’s four generations. And that’s what my son and my grandson reminded me of, you know, I was honored to do my dad’s eulogy. Eulogy. The word eulogy is like a benediction. The word eulogy means good word. And what my dad taught me, he was a man of God. I remember every Christmas, we would, there were sick kids in our family. So mom was always running around getting presents and gifts for all the kids. But dad would always say, before we buy any Christmas presents, we’re gonna give to the work of the Lord. We had a special offering every Christmas, it was called the Lottie Moon Christmas offering for foreign missions. And we’ve heard from missionaries today. But that always said that before we’re giving gifts to anybody, first we’re going to give to the church, because God’s the one who’s blessed us. And we had to bless God with the first fruits of our increase. That’s what dad taught me. He said, You always put God first. And this four generations thing in that short verse, that which thou, you’re the second generation has heard of me, this is Apostle Paul. So Paul was first generation, you’re the second generation among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, that third generation, who shall be able to teach others also the fourth generation. So my dad taught me the word, I’m teaching it to my son, and he’s teaching it to his son. There’s four generations there. God is a God a blessing. Glad to know said don’t get too emotional. He said, I know you will. But rest assured, the song says Joy to the world, the Lord has come. And so if I get a little bit emotional, rest assured, these are tears of joy. I was asked to speak on on Christmas, broad topic. When you pull on one thread of Scripture, the whole thing unravels because the whole scripture is interconnected through the cross of Christ. He’s the theme of the Word of God, because he’s the Word of God made manifest. The Christmas story is about The love of God and the Word of God. And that’s what we’re gonna be talking about this morning. So we’re gonna be talking about the purpose of Christmas and the meaning of Christmas. That’s what we’re going to be talking about this morning. And actually, I did prepare a few notes. And since I’m speaking, as I’ve said before, y’all have to take your own notes. And Pastor Pete says, I can’t wait to hear what you’re about to say. And I said to Pete, well, neither can I. Because right now I’m going off script.

Anyway, so I’ll say Merry Christmas to all y’all. I used to love Christmas, several years ago, because when I was first introduced to influencers, this was in Oh, seven or so y’all. many of y’all have been here, long before that. But in oh seven, I was introduced to influencers. And I would come on Christmas week. And I would come the day after Thanksgiving, those were the two times of year that I could come to influences because I had to work. I couldn’t get off on Fridays, until I started working for for one company that let me have Friday’s off. But so I would come twice a year. So the day after, or the day before Christmas, or the week of Christmas was one of the only times that I could spend time with all y’all. And I was always so blessed to be here. You know, what makes something precious is because it’s rare. And it was a rare experience, to be able to get together with all y’all, because that’s why we’re here. We’re here to build one another up. We’re here to meet together. We’re here to fellowship one with another, to link together as like minded men, and the like mindedness is with the love of God, and the Word of God because Jesus Christ is Lord. And because the Bible is our sole rule of faith and practice, that’s who we are and what we do, we link together with like minded men, because we’re like minded in the love of God and in the Word of God. So this morning, we’re going to talk about the purpose of Christmas, and the meaning of Christmas. And before we do, I’d like to open with a word of prayer. So Father, we thank You for this morning, this day that you’ve given us to rejoice and be glad in it. Thank you, Father, for this Christmas season, where we can understand what it means to be a son of God and a brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and why Jesus Christ came, and his purpose and the meaning of his coming. Thank you, Father, that your word lives within us. And more importantly, Father, that Christ lives within us because he’s the Word of God made manifest. And you’ve given us your Holy Spirit, so that we can know you and so that we can know the truth that sets us free. Because Jesus Christ said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man, commit them to the Father, but by me. So thank you, Father, today for this Pentecostal gift. Not just the gift of speaking, but especially the gift of hearing. Because the day of Pentecost, all men heard the wonderful works of God in their own tongue. So thank you, Father, for speaking to our hearts today. And that we can understand the reason for the season, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. So Christmas is a great time of year. I’m blessed to be able to speak to the children in our church. That’s one of the things that I do at church I, I help with the Children’s fellowship with with Sunday school on Sunday morning, so I really ever get to listen to the pastor speak. But it’s such a blessing to be able to talk to the children. And we’ve been talking about the Christmas story and about the coming of Jesus Christ this Advent season. And one of the things that I asked the children is, what do you like most about Christmas? And of course, there, they all raise their hands. And normally they’ll say, I love getting Christmas presents. That’s what I love the most is is all these Christmas presents, because I’ve, I’ve wanted these things all year and I wrote down all the things that I wanted for Christmas and then on Christmas morning, I run down the stairs, tear open the packages, and there’s exactly what I wanted. I’ve been waiting all year for this special present that I’ve been given. And what I said to the children is one thing to To appreciate Christmas presidents. But there’s another Christmas presents. There’s another Christmas present. That’s the greatest president of all. That’s Jesus Christ. He’s the reason for the season. The presence of God in Christ in you is the reason for the season, their Christmas presents. But then there’s the presence of God and Christ in you the hope of glory. You know, the Bible says that the reason the Jesus came, that’s the message that I’m going to share this morning. Why did Jesus come?

He came because God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have everlasting life. He came, because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, He was the gift. Jesus Christ was a gift, not because we deserved gift. Because what is a gift anyway, we were talking about the wrap that the our friend here did was about grace. When when I had the grace of God, I saw his face, because only by the grace of God, that we can see the face of God, By grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourself as a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast? If you look at this word, Grace, sometimes I like to look up the Greek because we speak English. But if we’re speaking English, we’re normally speaking the world’s vernacular. And the problem with speaking the world’s vernacular is that the world calls good, evil and evil good. So you have to look up the biblical definitions of the words. And if you look up the word gift, the word gift is a derivation of this word, Grace. The word The Greek word is the word. Charisse gift is charisma or charismata. Grace is a word charis, gifts are always a grace. Grace is not because we deserve it. Grace is a gift, because the giver loved us. See, we we didn’t deserve a gift, we actually deserve death, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We weren’t given the gift of eternal life, we were not given the gift of Jesus Christ, Christ in you the hope of glory, the spirit of our living God, we weren’t given that gift because we deserved it. We were given that gift, not because of who we are, we deserve death, the wages of sin is death. We were given that gift not because of who we are. But because of who God is. God is a giver. Not because of who we are, but because of who God is. Several months ago, I was blessed to be able to share about the difference between fusion and confusion. Maybe you heard that message, maybe it didn’t. But the essence of the message, diffusion versus confusion is, there’s a verse of Scripture that says, The thief, the devil, Satan, the adversary, this is John 1010, come at not but for to steal and to kill him to destroy, but I Jesus Christ, and come that they might have life in that they might have it more abundantly. The difference between confusion and fusion is confusion is of the devil. What he does is he blows things apart. He, that’s what he does. He blows things to smithereens. His job is to divide and conquer. His primary job is to separate our heart from God’s heart. That’s what the adversary does. That’s confusion to blow apart, to explode to atomize. But what Jesus Christ did is he came to fuse our hearts back together with God’s heart, because there’s one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ, is the mediator. He’s the one who chooses our heart with God’s heart, in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. The spirit is Christ in you the hope of glory. If you read in the first three gospels, there’s there’s three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Those will tell you about the historical record of Jesus Christ. But then there’s also the Gospel of John, the theme of the Gospel of John is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So it looks at the birth of Jesus Christ, not from a physical perspective, but from a spiritual perspective. The spiritual perspective is Jesus Christ is the word of God made manifest. He’s the word God revealed. He’s the Word of God in the flesh. That’s who Jesus Christ is. What the devil did when he caused the fall of man, if you remember the fall of man,

the devil did two things. to beguile Eve, this word, but guile and means he tricked Eve, and he got Eve to doubt, God. When you doubt God, at that point, you’re in the devil’s ballpark. So what the way the devil did is he came to Eve, and said, Did God really say? Because God had given Adam and Eve only one commandment? Do you remember the one commandment from Genesis that God gave Adam and Eve, God had said to Adam and Eve, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. From the day thou eatest thereof, thou shall surely die. That was a one commandment that God gave Adam and Eve, He said, Don’t eat it, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, if you do on that day, on that very day, toe Yom. In the Hebrew, thou shall surely die that very day. And then the adversary came to even he said, it got really say, Thou shalt not eat at the tree of knowledge, good and evil. The first thing that the adversary did, to beguile Eve was to question the Word of God, because who is God is his word. God is his Word, the Word of God. God is faithful to His word. He is his word. He’s not independent of His word. He is His Word. God is his word. He’s as good as his word. Did God really say, the first thing that the devil did was questioned the Word of God. The second thing the adversary did was to question the love of God, God doesn’t really love you. He wants you to be ignorant. He doesn’t want you to know the knowledge of good and evil. He knows that if you take a bite, just take a bite of this Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or the fruit of the tree of knowledge, good and evil, then you’re going to be like God, you’ll have your eyes open, you won’t be ignorant. God’s word is not true. And God doesn’t love you. He questioned the Word of God and the love of God. What is the meaning Christmas? Jesus Christ? is a word of God made manifest? Do you want to know the Word of God? You know, people would say, you know so much of the Word of God, I tell people. You know, I studied with the biblical research and teaching ministry, because I love the word. I like blue letter bible.org. I used to have a stack of books, Young’s analytical concordance, Strong’s exhaustive concordance, there’s Bible Dictionary, interlinear, Greek New Testament and old, Hebrew interlinear Old Testament, I used to have a stack of books in a Bible Atlas. And because I loved reading the Word, and I like to study the Word and understand the word of God, because it’s precious to me. And every time you go to the Word, you learn something else, thy words were found, and I did eat them. That’s what Jeremiah said, and they were liking isn’t to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. So I love the Word of God. That’s what I learned in church, and in this biblical research and teaching ministry that I studied with but people ask me well what what did influencers teach you? I tell them influencers taught me to love Jesus Christ. Because beat put this band on my this little bracelet on my hand, says, Man of God, He anointed my head with all he put this band on my arm that says, Man of God, man of God, and I was thinking to myself, I took a little bit of Latin, but what does that man of God thing mean? And then I thought to myself, haha, of God, in Latin, that’s called the genitive of possession. Influencers taught me that it’s not who we are. It’s who’s we are that matters, whose we are a man of God means God’s man. In English, we say, God’s man, apostrophe s. That’s who we are. That’s who’s we are. Who’s we are. Jesus Christ as Lord, Lord means owner.

Influencers taught me to love God. It’s one thing to love the word. It’s another thing altogether to love Jesus Christ, and our Father, God, our heavenly Father. That’s what influencers taught me was to love Jesus Christ. And if, unless you KNOW Jesus Christ, you can’t love him to know him is to love him. That’s what influencers taught me was this relationship with Jesus Christ. And that’s what all y’all taught me as well, and are teaching me every day. Because it’s the love of God made manifest in our hearts. So, what Jesus Christ did the purpose of the coming of Jesus Christ. Aaron was saying, Well, what are you going to share with the people this morning, and I’m way off script, by the way, but that’s fine. Because I expect God to call an audible. That’s what Pete says, I can’t wait to hear what you’re gonna say. And I said, I can’t either. I I’d love to hear what what God’s gonna say. But my son was saying, What what are you going to share with the people? And then he, of course, he quoted Luke chapter two. Luke chapter two, I remember I learned in the sixth grade, I went to public school just like y’all did. And I had a teacher named Winnie Garretson. I remember Winnie Garrison, because she said, you’re going to learn scripture this year. And if your mom doesn’t like it, have her come talk to me. Because I’ll tell your mom, what we’re studying in school this year is literature. The Bible is not the literature of the moment. The Bible is a literature of eternity is the word of God, the literature of eternity. She says, If your mom has a problem, have her come talk to me. And we’ll have a discussion about the meaning of literature. And that God is above all, because there’s a law above the law. Let every soul be subject to the higher power. The law above the law is the law of God, Jesus Christ, the Word of God made manifest. So my son asked me, well, what are you going to share? And so of course, he quoted Luke chapter two, he says, I learned Luke Chapter Two from watching a Charlie Brown Christmas every year. And in Luke chapter two, it says, Mary brought forth her firstborn son and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them at the end. And there were in the same country, shepherds biting in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not. For behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy which will be unto all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ’s the Lord, and this shall be assignment to you. And you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. 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, goodwill toward men. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. So what is the significance of Christmas? unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior? You ever looked at that word, Savior? Savior? The word Jesus means Savior, Yeshua, my brother from another mother, Lando Orlando. Jesus means Savior, a Savior. If you look up the word Savior, the Greek word comes from the word Zozo. Or Sotiria is a verb form and noun form of this word, Savior to save savior. Salvation is it’s a whole topic in systematic theology, this topic of soteriology with the Greek word it’s the word Shozo. The essence of the word SOS Oh, me too be made complete. That’s why Jesus came and year completed him.

Who is the head of all things your complete in Jesus Christ Guess what you just guys came, because he’s our Savior, He makes us complete. The implication is that before we were born again of God’s Spirit, we were incomplete. Because we were born body and soul. The the first prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ was in Genesis chapter three, verse 15. You can look that up for yourself. I’ve got it in my notes here. But I’m going way off script, like I said, in Genesis 316, is a verse about God is confronting Adam and Eve because they’ve eaten the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and had disobeyed the word God and had questioned Of course, the love of God. And when you doubt the Word of God, and the love of God, at that point, you’re no longer in God’s ballpark, you’re in the devil’s ballpark, you’re in his domain at that point. The downfall of man was doubting the Word of God, and doubting the love of God. Because then your actions are in line with your heart and if your heart is in the wrong place, if you’ve got another Lord, other than Jesus Christ, if you’re making, if you’re making yourself Lord of your own life, because I want this knowledge of good and evil, I want to be like God, I don’t need God, I want to be like God, he doesn’t love me, and his words, not true. At that point, they died that day, but of course, they lived on and on and on. So Genesis 315, is about God confronting Adam and Eve, what happened here? Of course, he said, The serpent began me and I did eat. He made me question the Word of God and the love of God, and I doubted in my heart, he beguiled me and I did eat. And so God said to Satan, the serpent, you’re going to crawl on your belly, and you’re going to be cursed all the days of your life. And there will be coming, another one, who will, and you’ll bruise His heel, but he’s gonna crush your head, the first Popsy of the coming of Jesus Christ, it was about the seat of the woman. And if you study biology, you understand that, in order to have life, you got to have 23 pairs of jeans of chromosomes, one compliment from your mom, and one compliment of 23 chromosomes from your dad. And that’s how you have the egg from the mom fertilized with the sperm from the dad. And that’s the way that that you reproduce. This is reproduction. Because God said, Be fruitful and multiply. But the problem is, that they died the day that they ate the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The question is what died that day, what died, was the Spirit of God, within them, that’s what died, because man was made body soul and spirit, three part being body, soul, and spirit. And he they met, we all inherit body and soul from Adam. Because from Adam, our fathers contributed the complement 23 chromosomes to the mom’s egg. And that’s how we how we got here is by the word of life. DNA is the word of life. It’s a message written in base for code, ATCG, deoxy, ribose, deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA. That’s how we got here. That was God’s divine design, for body and soul. But we were incomplete, because on the day that they aged the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they died that day, their spirit died. That’s what Jesus Christ came to make available. With the Spirit of God in Christ in us being born again. We were born in the first time, we were born of Adam seed passed down, through through the male line, from our dads all the way back to Adam from Adam seed. But when we were born again, we were born again, not of corruptible seed of DNA, this Deoxyribonucleic base for word of man through the ages, but we’re born again, not of corruptible seed, that DNA is a message of word as well, a word from God and the Word of God, to pass on body and soul.

But when we were born again, of God’s Spirit, we’re born again by the word of God, not a corruptible seed DNA, but an incorruptible, and then in the King James that leaves out the word seed It’s a figure of speech called ellipsis. To place the emphasis not on the seed, but on the interoperability of the seed, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. That’s why Jesus Christ gave the message of Christmas, and the meaning of Christmas. And the significance of Christmas is Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, For by grace, or you say, through faith, that not of yourselves into the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we’re God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, and to good works, which he’s for deigned that we should walk in them. We’re talking about our, our missionary friend here, was talking about a purpose. He said, Mom, you conceived me and You bore me, and you bought me out, you know me? What is my purpose for life? Well, what is the purpose for life? The purpose, ultimately, is a we would beat the praises of the glory of God’s grace, because he’s the one who made us acceptable in the Beloved. That’s why we’re here. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus Christ, he went to Jesus Christ, because he wanted a pat on the back. He wanted Jesus Christ to acknowledge all the good stuff that he had done in his life. So he came to Jesus and he said, Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And of course, Jesus, knowing what was in the heart of man said, Why call us thou me good? There’s none good, but God. And what he was talking about was something that the rich young ruler didn’t understand. Because this word good. You look up the word good. It’s the word agathos. I think of Agatha, the woman’s name Agatha. The word good, has to do with purpose. The word good means fit for a particular purpose. What was our purpose? The reason that Jesus Christ came the reason for Christmas, the purpose for Christmas? What is our purpose? Our purpose is that we should be to the praise of the glory of God’s grace. You see, there were two things that the devil did to separate man’s heart, from God’s heart because that’s what the adversary does, he divides and conquers. He splits things up. He pits factions, one against the other. That’s what the adversary does. He’s the author of strife and contention and confusion, and where there’s confusion. There’s every evil work, because that’s what the adversary does. But Jesus Christ came to make available the Spirit of God in Christ in us a new birth, that thou shall confess with by mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in my heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, Greek word soza. For He shall save His people from their sins. That’s why Jesus Christ came that we might be made complete the Spirit of God in Christ in you. So the adversary did two things. He questioned the Word of God. And he questioned the love of God. And why did Jesus Christ came, because he is a word of God made manifest. And he’s the love of God made manifest. And what else did the angels say? This this morning in prayer, I didn’t get a chance to go to the prayer meeting, because I was doing sound checks and whatnot. But I was told that that in the prayer meeting this morning, Pastor Pete, open with this thing about what the world considers success is upside down from what the Bible considers success. We’ve been talking about the Beatitudes. Since when was poverty, mourning, persecution, purity, meekness, humility. When were these things success like criteria? In the world standards? They’re opposite from from what the world considered success. What I was thinking is that the angels

they they they only appeared to some lowly shepherds. On the Judean hillside, they were the ones who got the invitation,

because their hearts ready. Who was Jesus Christ? He was the perfect Lamb of God. What did the shepherds do? That was your job, to raise a lamb without spot, without blemish. So that on the Passover, the Hebrews could have a lamb to sacrifice to take away their sin. That was who Jesus Christ was, he was a perfect Lamb of God. You know, my dad taught me a lot of stuff, but I’m thinking I learned so much from from my son, probably more, he’s probably taught me more than I’ve taught him. I remember when they might, my son said, Well, what was the significance of Jesus’s death? He said to me, Dad, you know, they’ve been so many people that have died for a worthy cause. They’ve died for freedom, they’ve died for their family. He said, Well, you know, even even the guys that flew those planes into the twin towers on 911. They died for their cause, is the planes went down as they were hitting the building. They said, Allah Akbar, well, what does that mean? That means God is great, God is good. But what they were because of course, they worship the wrong god. There say, the Essence of Allah Akbar is my gods greater than your God, I’m going to show you, America, who’s God. And it ain’t the God of wealth and the God of materialism, in it at the God of self and self absorption, that you Americans worship. Materialism will show you whose God is greater. They died for a cause. My My son said to me what, what was different about Jesus Christ did what my son said is the difference. Jesus Christ shed innocent blood, the operative word is innocent. Because the Bible says, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death. If you ever think well, I deserve my just deserves, well, you’re just deserves, it’s six feet under. That’s you’re just deserved, because the wages of sin is dead, because our blood is guilty. But Jesus Christ, shed innocent blood, because he who is without sin, was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf, that we might be made. The righteousness of God in Him. Jesus Christ, is the word of God made manifest and the love of God made manifest. He unifies us back to God, because there’s one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, not because of who he we are, but because of who we got it. Because of who God is. God is the love of God. And Jesus Christ is a love of God made manifest. There’s an old poem, maybe you’ve heard it, maybe you haven’t, is attributed to a rabbi from from way back in the olden days. But this poem, they said, they found it in an insane asylum when they were tearing down an insane asylum. It’s amazing how God works. He takes the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, the foolish things to the world to confound the wise. And this poem is about the love of God. And the poem goes, if, if we could we with the oceans fill, and word the skies of parchment made, where every stock on Earth, the quill, and every man ascribed by trade, to write the love of God above, would drain the oceans dry. Nor could this crow contain the whole, those stretched from sky to sky. The love of God is beyond words, an ephah bliss sublime I had to look up this word ineffable. It means indescribable. That’s the love of God.

The Book of John shows the life of Christ, not from a worldly perspective, not about the things that he did and the thing it talks about the miracles of Jesus Christ, but the emphasis is on the spiritual reality of who Jesus Christ is. The Word of God made manifest. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That’s the book of John. The Book of John ends with If I were to describe all the things that Jesus Christ did, there would not be enough volumes in the all the books of all eternity, to fill the volumes that would be required to talk about Jesus Christ, because the love of God is the essence of God Himself. Jesus Christ is the word of God made manifest in the love of God made manifest. What’s the significance of Christmas? The significance of Christmas is the love of God. And the Word of God made manifest. You know, I was asking my friend Orlando there because you know, are blessed by Neil. Unfortunately, I don’t speak the language of the majority. I think a little bit of French. French is a great language as well. But I asked Orlando and I asked some of the Sunday school teachers where I teach the kids at church. Well, what does Christmas mean? And of course, one of the girls at church, she says, Chris, what does Christmas mean? en Espanol. Polska or because I don’t know how to speak Espanol. She says Christmas in Espanol. That means the least NaVi died. And I said, Well, that may be the Gospel according to Jose Feliciano, but that wasn’t my question. My question, What does Christmas mean? in Espanol? My my sister God bless her heart. She’s from North Carolina as well. My My sister said, Have you ever looked at the words Christmas, Christ Mass? And you know what that means to spend your Christmas means more of Christ. Desperate Christmas beans. That’s what John the Baptist said. When when John the Baptist he had a great following a preacher in the wilderness and camels here and a grasshoppers, Akuna kata. But he had a great following, because he was a first prophet of God after Malikai. For 400 years there had not been a prophet from God. He was the first prophet in for 100 years and he had the word of life. And his followers came to him and said, we see that Jesus is baptizing people. Is he taking away your congregation? Is he cannibalizing your demographic here? What’s this Jesus Christ? Are you guys complete competing for lost souls on this baptism thing? And what John the Baptist said, he said, you know, something, I’m not the bridegroom. I’m only here, they introduced the Bride of Christ, Israel, to her bride, groom, Jesus Christ, it’s a bride groom. He says, I must decrease so that he might increase. That’s Christos Moss, more of Christ, and less of me. So Father, we thank You for this Christmas season. Thank you, Father, that You sent Your Son Jesus Christ. So that would be more of the unless of me, that he might increase the we might decrease, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world, including our own selves that we inherited from Adam. Thank you, Father, for this band of brothers. Thank you, Father, for having called us from the darkness of this world into the glorious light of your gospel of truth. Thank you, Father, for the words of the angels that said, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Thank you, Father, that we can have peace, the reconciliation between God and men, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His birth we celebrate this Christmas season, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you guys.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Joy to the World the Lord is Come

Christmas looks back at God’s promise of our Saviour, our Redeemer Jesus Christ. It also looks forward to when he shall come again as king of kings and Lord of Lords.

Joy to the World was written by Isaac Watts when he was inspired to rejoice about the ultimate victory…. when we shall see him as he is… for eye hath not seen nor ear heard the things that God has prepared for them that love him.

Joy and rejoicing in the Lord is not the result of a fleeting momentary feeling… instead, joy is a command… Rejoice evermore… pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks. For this is the will of the Lord concerning you. The commandment of Jesus Christ is that my joy may be in you. Jesus said, ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full.

Joy is The theme of the book of Philippians. Warren Wiersby says that In each of the four chapters, there is a thief that will steal your joy. Whereas happiness depends on circumstances, joy is not happy happenstances, rather, as Suzan said, Joy is not the absence of pain, but the presence of the Lord. Regardless of the tribulations of this world, our joy is in the Lord. He is our comfort and strength, he is our sufficiency in all things… he is our all in all, working all things together for good to those who love him.

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were preaching in the city of Philippi and Lydia, a prominent business woman, a seller of purple invited them to stay in her house. While Paul and Silas were teaching, a young slave girl followed them around. This slave girl was possessed with a devil spirt and her masters used her to make money by fortune telling. Paul and Silas cast out the devil spirit. When her masters found out, they realized that they had lost their source of income so they instigated an uprising against Paul and Silas in the town square. In the midst of the riot, the authorities took Paul and Silas, threw them into prison and charged them for inciting the riot. In jail, Paul and Silas were singing praises to God when the doors of the prison were miraculously opened.

Paul said, despite tribulation and persecution, my joy is in the Lord. Joy is a deliberate, purposeful, and intentional choice. Paul’s mission and commission was to live his life “as it becometh the gospel of Christ… for we preach not ourselves but Jesus Christ and him crucified to deliver us from sin and the consequences of sin.

If you are not joyful, then you have allowed one of the four joy-thieves to steal your joy. The joy thief in the first chapter of Philippians is people…. Who is it that has hurt and wounded you and you have built up anger and resentment against them. This root of bitterness will steal your joy. Who have you hurt whom you did not ask for forgiveness? The blessing is focusing on ourselves instead seeking to forgive and bless others… People will disappoint you. If you look at others you’ll be distressed. If you look into the mirror, you’ll be depressed, but if you look to the Lord you will be blessed. Every relationship in this life will end in sorrow except one. However God has said, whatever comes to pass, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

In Chapter 2, the joy thief is strife and division in the church. We experience the Joy of the Lord when we are joined together in the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. When we forsake our selfish pride and look unto the Lord, old things have passed away and behold all things have become new. Philippians 2:2 says, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

God is the God of new beginnings. Contrary to popular opinion, the trials of life are a blessing…. James 1:2-4 says, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. According to Romans 5, for tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the Holy Spirit is given to you. Through the he trials of his refining fire, God will reveal his true character in us. He will teach us the meaning of hope and love. He will prove his nature in us in the fire, by the fire and through the fire.

In Chapter 3, the joy thief is things. What is it that you hold dear… what do you value in this life. Paul said, whatsoever things I have counted gain for me, I count them but rubbish that I may gain Christ. Therefore treasure treasures in heaven and not treasures upon earth. Everything that is seen is here today and gone tomorrow… This too shall pass. Everything in this world will come to naught. The things of this world will soon be past, only that which is done in Christ shall last.

In Chapter four, the joy thief is worry. Therefore rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice. Let your kindness and yieldingness in insignificant things be made known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Rejoicing in the Lord is a command. It is a choice to rejoice, not in the things of this world, but in the Lord….. he is the same yesterday, today and forever. His joy transcends the fleeting broken relationships, trials, and things of this world.

Joy thieves relentlessly pursue us without mercy. In our own power we have no defense against the adversary, the thief who comes to steal, kill and to destroy. However, When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ we will fulfill his purpose that we might have life more abundantly. When we walk in the light as he is in the light the blood of Jesus Chrsit will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Despite the troubles of this world, what shall separate us from the love of Christ…. shall tribulation, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Therefore, Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King….

That we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Joy to the World

Pastor Pete requests prayer for traveling mercies this Christmas season as he travels to New York next week and then to Scotland the following three weeks. This is the first time in three years that he’s been able to visit his sons and their families.

Joy is a major theme of this time of year when we celebrate the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. The angels who announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds on a Judean hillside proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Christmas carols focus on the Joy of the Lord. Isaac Watts took the lyrics from Psalm 98, and even though there is nothing in this song about the birth of Jesus, Joy to the World the Lord is Come focuses on God’s work of redemption and salvation that began on that special night… O Holy Night when Christ was born… The birth of Jesus Christ ushered in a new era for all mankind… an era of joy and peace. Joy to the world, the saviour reigns… he comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found…

As Pete’s wife Suzan often said, Joy is not the absence of pain, rather, Joy is the presence of the Lord. Even though children anticipate Christmas presents, the greatest present of all is God’s greatest gift. It is a different type of present… The greatest Christmas present the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ… For God so loved that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Unspeakable joy is in the joy of the Lord… Not because of what he gave us but because of who he is. He is the source of our joy and rejoicing. Paul wrote Philippians, the epistle of Joy, by God’s divine inspiration. Philippians 1:12 and following says: “But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; 13. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; 14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

Paul’s rejoicing was in the progress of the gospel taking root in the hearts and lives of those born again of God’s spirt. Joy does not depend on circumstances and the situations of life… Jesus said to his disciples in John 15, If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love…. these things have I spoken to you that your joy may be full. The joy is in keeping his commandments and thereby abiding in the Love of Christ. In abiding in Christ, this is the joy of the Lord in us and through us as we walk together in the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

Despite the wounds inflicted by the world around us, our rejoicing is in the Lord and not in the world’s so-called comfort. Our deep seated joy in the Lord is not affected by trials, tribulation, pain, suffering, illness, and broken relationships that the world inflicts.

In the book of Philippians there is a thief in every chapter that will steal your joy. These include: Circumstances, People, Things, and Worry… Fear and anxious thoughts separate our hearts from God’s heart. The world tempts us to escape the troubles of this world through temporarily satisfying the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Some turn to drugs, money, power, or the forbidden poison fruit of ilicit relationships.

Paul said to Timothy, When we hear foolish speculation, don’t let it steal your joy. When one man was asked how he was doing he said, “under the circumstances I’m OK.” The question is “why are you underneath your circumstances?”

How do we defeat joy-stealing thieves? The answer is in Philippians 4:5-8…. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Let your moderation (Your charity and yieldingness in insignificant points) be made known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God that passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

There is no peace without the Prince of Peace. For Jesus said in John 14:27, My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Joy is not in circumstance… Our joy is in the Lord… Therefore, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and is set down upon the right hand of the throne of God.

Our Joy is in the object of our joy… Our joy is in the Lord. He is the reason for the season… Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

That we may ever live tot he praise of the glory of His grace,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael