Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Friends and Associates”
Our Bible verse for today: “She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room in the inn.” Luke 2:7 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Merry Christmas”
Every time I read Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus I never fail to wonder at how much Jesus humbled Himself. He is of course, the Lord of Glory and the King of Heaven. He voluntarily left the splendor of heaven to come to earth to rescue us from our sins. But He did it in such a humble way!
In his book, “The Jesus I Never Knew” author Philip Yancey describes a visit to the USA by Queen Elizabeth II. She came with four thousand pounds of luggage including two outfits for every occasion, a mourning outfit in case someone important died while she was here, forty pints of plasma in case of a medical emergency, and white leather toilet seat covers which were placed on the toilets of whatever suite of rooms she was staying in. She had flashing jewelry, trumpets and heralds to announce her arrival wherever she went, bodyguards, and much pomp and circumstance.
The entourage and security surrounding the Queen was such that nobody could even get close to her. If Jesus had come to us in such a fashion we wouldn’t have been able to get close to Him either.
But He didn’t come like that. He came humbly, as a baby, in impoverished circumstances. Doing so made it easy for us to be with Him. He not only came as one of us, but He came as a defenseless baby.
Then, as He grew, He passed through all the stages of human growth and development until finally, as an adult, He began His ministry among us as the Son of God and the Messiah, the Savior. But again, even then, He remained humble and approachable. People could be with Him, they could talk to Him, they could see, hear, and touch Him.
The primary reason Jesus came to earth was so that one day He could die upon the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. But He also came to make it possible for us to relate to God in a real and personal way. According to the prophet Isaiah one of the descriptive names for Jesus is Immanuel, “God is with us”. In John 10:30 Jesus said of Himself, “The Father and I are one.” And in John 14:9 He said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
Because Jesus came to us in the manner He did, we can now know God in ways that were never possible before. Tonight at Oak Hill Baptist Church at 5:00 we will celebrate a Christmas Eve Candlelight service. We’ll sing songs and light candles, but I will also speak a bit more about this subject of God being with us in such a personal and non-threatening way in the person of Jesus. I invite you to join us.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 