Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Family”
Our Bible verse for today: “He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted.” Isaiah 61:1 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Reach out to a lonely person.”
“He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted” … that sentence is taken from a longer passage of Scripture found in Isaiah 61:1-11 which has come to be known as “The Messiah’s Jubilee”. Through the prophet Isaiah God was prophetically telling us about the coming of the Messiah.
Seven hundred years later, as Jesus was beginning His earthly ministry and was visiting in the synagogue in Nazareth, He was asked to participate in the worship service by reading the scripture passage for the day. The leader of the synagogue handed to Him the scroll that contained this very passage from Isaiah which prophesied about the coming of the Messiah. So the Messiah Himself stood there and read that 700 year old passage about His own promised appearance.
As the snippet quoted above reveals, one of the reasons Jesus came to us was to bring healing to the brokenhearted. Well if you’ve ever been brokenhearted, and if in the midst of your brokenness you have turned to Jesus for comfort and healing, then you know what an important part of His mission this was. The truth is that there is comfort and healing, strength and renewal, to be found in Jesus. In Matthew 11:28-30 He explained it this way:
“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Today we are only three days away from Christmas. For many of us this is a time of great joy and celebration – but not for everyone. Some people have lost a loved one this past year and are therefore about to experience their first Christmas without that person. Others are alone and they don’t have family to spend the day with. Others don’t even have any close friends. These people need Jesus. Not only do they need Jesus Himself, but they need Jesus’ people – they need to be with Christians who will welcome them, include them, and love them.
You probably know people like this. If not, just ask the Lord to open your eyes and to show you some of them because they’re all around you. One action you could take is to invite them to join us at Oak Hill Baptist Church for our Christmas Eve service at 5:00 and at our Christmas morning service at 10:00. We would be happy to welcome them into our church family. But also, how about inviting a lonely person to join you and your family at your Christmas celebrations? Do you have room in your heart, and in your life, to include a person who is sad and lonely and struggling through the Christmas season alone?
Jesus came to offer comfort and healing to the brokenhearted. In our day, that comfort and healing usually comes by means of the Spirit of Jesus working through the people of Jesus. That’s you and me. I encourage you to reach out to a lonely person this Christmas.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 