“Christianity is a love relationship between a child of God and his Maker through the Son Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.” Adrian Rogers
Do you have a love relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
The Christmas decorations are put away, the holiday season is over. Let us not pack away the joy we have in Jesus, but keep Him the center of our lives all year long.
Romans 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Have you ever lost something special to you and frantically searched for it until it was found? Maybe your car keys and you cannot go anywhere or your child’s favorite toy and he will not go to sleep without it. Jesus spoke many times in parables about things that were lost and found. He was getting us to understand that until we accept Him as our Savior we are lost and have no hope of Heaven. Jesus came to find you and me and payed the price with His own life on the cross and rose again that we might be saved. Are you lost or found?
Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Looking forward to the New Year is exciting for some and discouraging for others. Many people of all ages have real concerns about the future. Young adults who are single are wondering if they will find the right person to marry. Jobs are uncertain and they do not know what the future will bring. The young married couples face problems of child rearing to be overwhelming at times or maybe making decisions on having a family at all. Middle age brings different kind of trials. Many have children still at home, grandchildren coming along and possibly elderly parents that need care. Then the elderly may have health problems, financial concerns and fears about death. All of these people have genuine concerns, and without proper guidance the future may look grim. BUT, the answer to all of these uncertainties is in One person, the Lord Jesus. He is the answer. He told us to cast our care upon Him. Total trust in Jesus will bring peace and encouragement no matter what our age or circumstance. He will answer prayer and bring into our life what is best or us.
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Thinking about a New Year’s Resolution? Usually it is something like, “I am going to diet, or I will exercise, I will stop some bad habit, I will turn over a new leaf.” Whatever it is you want to change in your life for the New Year lasts a few days, a week or maybe even a month. The problem is most of us do not have the willpower to continue our resolution for a long period of time.
For a real life change there is only one way to do it and that is through Jesus. If you are not a Christian, you need to call on Him to be saved. If you are a Christian, then you need to call on Him daily for help to do whatever you need to do to make changes in your life to make you what you need to be. Without Jesus life changes are hard if not impossible. It is still a few days until The New Year. Why wait? Call upon Jesus today and start 2018 right.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
May God bless you today and the throughout the New Year.
Luke 2:11
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
The night is cold and dark. Mary and Joseph know that the birth of the BABY is going to be soon. Mary is in pain, probably a little afraid. No sterile hospital, nurses or midwives for her. A smelly, animal filled stable is the birthplace for the KING of kings.
Was Joseph the only one in attendance or did he run for help? Unanswered questions about the birth of our SAVIOR. But this we do know… Mary was a person chosen by God to bring His SON into the world and she had the same physical pain and emotional feelings that we have. The Bible says Mary pondered these things in her heart.
Then the miracle. JESUS is born and they laid HIM in a manger. Mary did not know that 2000 years later we would celebrate the birth of her CHILD. So on this Christmas Eve remember the true meaning of Christmas and honor Him with your gift to Him. Give Him your love, time and service not just on Christmas but everyday.
Luke 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
At the time Jesus was born, sheep farmers were seen as low or little value by other people. The sheep that they bred would have probably been used as sacrifice animals in the temple in near-by Jerusalem. They were quietly getting on with their own business when suddenly Angels appeared to them. It is not surprising they were afraid!
The angels words to them told them of Jesus and his amazing birth and how they could recognise him in a very crowded town. The song of the hosts of angels is very similar to the words sung during a sacrifice service in the temple when there were three blasts of the temple trumpets. This is only the second time in the whole Bible that a group of angels rather than one angel had appeared to people, so this proved that they had a very important message to give to them. We don’t know the names of the angels or how many there were of them, but in the Bible it says that there are millions of angels – so it would have been an amazing experience!
Being curious as to what the angels meant, they went down into Bethlehem, maybe leaving a shepherd or two behind to keep guard on the sheep.
When they had found and told Mary and Joseph what had happened to them, it says that ‘The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.’ The people they told probably weren’t just the people they saw on the way back to hills, but friends and relatives in Bethlehem and Jerusalem and the people they met in the temple when they took their sheep to be sold.
Luke 2:15 And 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.
“If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: “God with us.” We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth!”
John MacArthur
Matthew 1:23
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Center for Evangelists 
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