by Terry Laughlin | Apr 30, 2016 | Christmas
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This passage of Scripture offers the greatest gift anyone could receive.
God sent His Son to invade the dominion of sin upon this earth and the Holy Spirit to liberate Christians from the grip of the flesh, the world and the devil.
Christ coming in the flesh was for man to see what God is like and to show Christians how to live the abundant life in the midst of a sin-torn world. Because of the incarnation, through Jesus Christ we see what real love is and how to show it to others. We see how to communicate to God through prayer and how to live a life of obedience to God’s commands and decrees. Knowing about the life of Christ gives us the knowledge of how to truly trust in God.
Because of Christmas, Christians can know God, be intimate with Christ, learn His character and determine His will for them in this life and service unto Him.
Before anyone can enjoy all that the first Christmas birth forth for mankind, man must take time to open their hearts to the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Rick Warren told about a very embarrassing time in his life when he found an unopened Christmas gift in one of his drawers of his desk. The gift was given to him a year before at Christmas time. He opened it and it said, “A gift for Rick Warren.” It was a wonderful gift, however, the gift could not be enjoyed until the Christmas certificate was cashed in. It had been a year, Rick was concerned that the certificate may have expired. What God needs you to grasp is, an unopened gift is a worthless gift. Until you receive the Christ of Christmas, Gods greatest gift has no value to you!
Have you opened the gift God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit has for you? You can choose this day to enjoy the gift of getting victory in your life through having Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord. Thus, the flesh, the world, and the Devil will no longer have their hold on you. Have you opened your heart to Christ?
by Terry Laughlin | Apr 30, 2016 | Christmas
Just as the people in the time of Jesus walking upon this earth beheld the glory of God, Christians today can really know the Lord. The life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus means that God acted decisively to save people from sin and eternal death. The God who saves people in Christ is the God of His redeemed, those who are under the blood of Jesus Christ. And when sinners find Jesus Christ as both Savior and Lord they are allowed to come to God because of the cost paid at Calvary. These Christians are under the new covenant of whom the writer of the Book of Hebrews wrote about. Hebrews 8:10-12 says “…I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:10-12)
All those who enter into the new covenant and are interested in all that the Lord is doing in the time we live today, can become acquainted with the Lord; learn His character and determine His will for them in this life and service unto Him. Each child of God can have his own intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus. As a spokesman for the Lord, Ezekiel wrote, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
Every true born again Christian may enjoy God, through the Holy Spirit be drawn to things of God, enjoy fellowship with Christians, and be given revelation from the Bible. The more they discipline their spiritual hearts and set their minds to prayerfully read and study the Word of God, the more the Holy Spirit will give them illumination of Jesus Christ, reveal God’s will to them and be enabled to accomplish all He leads them to do.
The religious may be captivated by lights and the Holiday Celebration. However, true Christians proclaim at Christmas and all year round, “I know the Lord!”
by Terry Laughlin | Apr 30, 2016 | Christmas
A truth worth grasping is that Jesus came through and for common people. Luke 2:7 says, “and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:8-11 says, “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.’” The Bible goes on to say, “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, 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, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,” (Luke 2:15-17)
The King of the universe was not born in a king’s palace nor was His birth announced first to the priesthood. No, He was conceived in a poor woman, Mary, who was simply a willing vessel of the Lord and a kingdom seeker. Catch Mary’s answer to the angel Gabriel, (Luke 1:26) “I am the Lord’s servant… May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38) She was submissive to the Lord’s will for her.
The secret to grasping the truths and joy of Christmas is to be a willing humble common person sold out to the cause of Christ. There is something worth grasping about the shepherds who were most likely devout men seeking the kingdom of God. They were servants about their business ready to receive the good news God was about to give them through the angels. These shepherds were obedient, diligently doing their work; they were not sleeping, but keeping watch.
Take note, no one is out of the way of a divine visit of the Holy Spirit of God. The call of God to hear the good news can come at anytime and the privilege of spreading the good news to others will come to those who are diligently working in their callings. Are you a willing vessel?
by Terry Laughlin | Apr 30, 2016 | Christmas
A miracle worth grasping about Christmas is that Jesus is God in the flesh and yet He was fully man, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself…” (Philippians 2:6-8a)
The words the Apostle Paul used in this passage of Scripture are chosen with great care to show the absolute reality that Jesus is God in the flesh as well as truly being man. He is flesh and blood just as you and I. The writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us the great benefit of the Lord becoming man. “Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:14-18)
He could not have been tempted as we are, lived a life of victory over sin unless He was of flesh and blood. Being man, the sins of the world were able to be laid upon Him. 1 John 3:8 says, “…The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” The devil’s work was destroyed on the Cross of Christ. Colossians 2:15 says, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities [of Satan]. He, [Jesus] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Christians, are under the blood of Christ, thus enabled to get victory over the flesh, the world, and the devil. The Apostle Paul writes, “For [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.” (Colossians 1:13-14)
Jesus coming to earth with the chief purpose of redeeming fallen mankind gave us a Savior, Priest or rather a Shepherd who is able to help those who are being tempted. Have you grasped this miracle?
by Terry Laughlin | Apr 30, 2016 | Christmas
Christians need to take the event of the birth of Christ and point people to the miracles that took place at the time of His birth.
The world stood amazed and watched as man walked on the moon. They need to know, however, that there was a much more amazing event that took place in Bethlehem. Christ, while keeping His Deity, came as a baby and walked this earth. Christmas is not the celebration of the beginning of Jesus Christ, it is the celebration of His arrival on earth. It must be understood and taught that Jesus’ true beginnings were not in a stable.
The Holy Spirit wants you to catch this, “He is the image of the invisible God.” The key word is “image” (eikon) and here it means that Jesus is the image of God indicating the revelatory character of the incarnation. Yes Jesus is man; however, His character is the exact representation of God. He is the illumination of, the very essence of the heart of God. Our Lord said, “…Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) Jesus is the manifestation of God, literally displaying and proving the very existence of God. The apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:19 that “…God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in [Jesus].” (Colossians 1:19) Jesus is a portrait of God not a mere sketch. In Jesus you see the characteristics and the distinguishing marks of God. This Greek word for image (eikon) is sometimes a diminutive form of another Greek word (eikonion) meaning portrait. It is the equivalent to our word photograph.
When Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit, the Word which painted the portrait of Christ stepped out of heaven, the Word became flesh and He is the perfect replica, the precise copy, the image of the Father who made the promise of sending a Savior who would save mankind from their sins. He is more than a picture, He can be known and Jesus, who is God in the flesh makes known to us the image of God. According to the Word of God and the testimony of the Holy Spirit who brings revelation and illumination of the written Word, God came to earth to make Himself known through His Son, Jesus Christ. This is surely a key truth of the miracle of Christmas. Have you grasped this truth?
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