But for Just One – 12/10/2017

WARNING PREACHY…

What I love about babies is their potential.  Every single baby that is born has the potential to change the world.

       *Jesus was a baby

       *Gandhi was a baby

       *Abraham Lincoln was a baby

       *Martin Luther King Jr. was a baby

       *Mother Theresa was a baby

       * Elvis was a baby

Each of these people made a huge impact on our world and will be forever remembered in history.

What about you?  What about me? 

There is a story that tells about a little girl who walked along the sea shore just after the tide went out, and the beach was strewn with hundreds of starfish just lying and baking to death in the sun.  As the little girl walked along she stopped and gently picked up a single starfish and set it back into the sea.

An old man saw her do this and apologized there were too many starfish for her to save.  She just shrugged and told the man, “That’s OK, I know that there’s at least one starfish that I could save.”

The birth of Jesus reminds us of how God changed the world through one little baby, but a most important thing about that baby is not how He changed the world, but how He has changed me.

The world might be better because of the birth of Christ, but I am especially glad that he stopped and gently saved me.

Matthew 1:20b-21

“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Jesus Birthed in You – 12/05/2017

WARNING PREACHY…

Luke 1:34

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

When the angel announced to Mary that God was going to bring the salvation of men into the world by the baby she was going to have, she asked the most natural of questions, “Huh?”  She understood the birds and the bees and couldn’t understand how this was going to be.  But the angel assured her that all would be taken care of because the Holy Spirit of God was going to come upon her and take care of it. This was the first announcement of the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

Though it didn’t make sense to her, a very real miracle of God caused Christ to be in Mary.

John 3:1-9

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

Most of us are like Nicodemus, when we hear the concept of being “Born Again”, it makes no sense to us.  Try as we might, when asked about it, we have a really difficult time explaining it in terms that doesn’t sound absolutely crazy; because when the Holy Spirit comes, and Jesus is birthed in us, it’s an absolute miraculous event.

This too is part of the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ, for Jesus has come to save the people from their sins, and this is Christ birthed in you.