The Christmas Child

Merry Christmas!! What a wonderful wish. That first Christmas would not have seemed merry to Joseph and Mary. The ridicule of friends for this out of wedlock baby (or at least before the marriage ceremony), the terrible timing of a census that required a mother in her final days before birth to travel 80 miles, a four day journey, then there was no room for them in any establishment or home except for a cave stable filled with animals. How could this Christmas be merry? What made the difference? It was the child!! This baby changed everything.

Faith Hill's new song A Baby Changes Everything puts it like this:
A Baby Changes Everything
Teenage girl, much too young
Unprepared for what's to come
A baby changes everything

Not a ring
On her hand
All her dreams and all her plans
A baby changes everything (x2)

The man she loves she's never touched
How will she Keep his trust
A baby changes everything (x2)

And she cries, oh she cries

She has to leave, go far away
Heaven knows she can't stay
A baby changes everything

She can feel it's coming soon
There's no place, there's no room
A baby changes everything (x2)

And she cries and she cries O she cries

Shepherds own they got their ...
Star shines down...

Choir of Angels say
Glory to the newborn king
A baby changes everything (x2) everything, everything, every day
Hallelujah x4

My whole life is turned around
I was lost and now I'm found
A baby changes everything (x2)

The baby changed everything. Yes angels appeared, shepherds rejoiced, an old man and woman confirmed, and eventually wise men worshiped, but these were not the biggest changes. Times would still be tough, but God Himself in the form of this infant son, came into the world to save the world. The world would never be the same.
God wants our life to be changed because of this Christmas Child. I pray that you will come to the manger, to the cross, to the empty tomb, and your life will be changed forever. It is the only way to truly have a Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Fellowship Family!!

Your Staff and Pastors want to wish you a wonderful Christmas. This is our holiday as Christians and I hope that you will celebrate it with all the joy of someone who has received the best Christmas gift they could possibly get. A gift purchased at a great price by someone who loved them more than they loved their own life. We celebrate the gift of Jesus who came as a baby to give his life a ransom for ours. Again Merry CHRISTmas!

 

Characters of Christmas

 

When you think of Christmas, what characters come to mind? Santa Claus, elves, Scrooge, Clarance the angel, Frosty the snowman, the infamous Grinch, or any multitude of people or animals that are trying to catch the elusive Christmas spirit. I love to watch the various movies made around the Christmas season but I am not confused about the real characters of Christmas. The first Christmas was all about the coming of the Messiah to the world as Immanuel, God with us.

The Christmas story begins with an angel visiting a young virgin named Mary with some unbelievable news. From that auspicious beginning many other interesting characters appear and each responds to this first Christmas in similar ways to our responses today. Joseph courageously takes a stand for faith and family, the inn keeper puts business above compassion, shepherds come to worship, wise men sacrifice time and treasure to come see this new King, and the current king kills innocent children, all as a response to this earth changing event. We will continue to look at many of these characters each Sunday through Christmas. Please join us for each service. 

On this blog I will introduce you to many characters, some you may have never meet or thought about when you think about Christmas.

 

Clay Jars

I have been enjoying throwing pottery again (not at people but on the potter's wheel). Pottery was one of my majors in college and I have been away from it for a long time. In the studio are many examples for us to better understand the many references to clay, pots, and the potter's house.  Recently God spoke to me through a reference in 2 Corinthians 4:7: "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the all surpaassing power is from God and not from us....for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."

At our best we are still fragile and unworthy to claim any glory on our own for any deed that has eternal significance. God's power is seen through us when we realize we are but jars of clay. When we are humble.

A piece of pottery must go through muliple firings of increasing heat before it becomes a useful vessel. The firings that we go through in this life make us more fit vessels for God's use. Ultimately our troubles build up for us a weight of glory in eternity.

I need to see trouble for what it is...light and momentary and see eternal reward for what it is..weighty and eternal. The suffering I have experienced does not begin to match what my Lord did for me. I pray that God will use every fire in your life to make you stronger and more fit for Him to use.

Ministry by Paranoia by Dr. Dan

I was intrigued and convicted by this last weeks Monday Morning Memo from my professor and friend Dr. Dan Crawford. I thought you might enjoy it:

Ministry by Paranoia


Paranoia is a thought process heavily influenced by anxiety or fear. Many people minister by paranoia – fearful of what someone might think or say. In my younger days, working hard to be liked and fearing rejection, I practiced ministry through paranoia. Basically I liked to be liked and I feared failure. Jesus, on the other hand, was never anxious or intimidated by what others thought. After He called Zacchaeus down from the tree, He walked with him through the streets of Jericho, unafraid of the watching crowd or the wagging tongues. He was intent on going to the home of a rather notorious sinner where not only Zacchaeus, but the entire household would be saved. Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Lord, deliver my friends and me from ministry by paranoia.

Dr. Dan's Morning Memos. www.Discipleallnations.org

Gauges of our Lives

I was recently asked a question: Can a person be emotionally immature and still be spiritually mature?  Why or why not?

Good question. there are 4 areas or gauges in our life that we must monitor. They are: 1. Physical health (our fuel gauge). We must take care of our bodies in order to live healthy and active. To not get proper rest and exercise diminishes all other aspects of our lives. 2. Spiritual health (our temperature gauge). Are we hot or cold? If we are lukewarm then God says He will spew us out of His mouth in Revelation 3:16. If we are cold, we are at the bottom of the barrel of our lives and we will naturally look up to God for help. If we are hot, we are in touch with God and ready to serve Him. 3. Mental health (our volt meter) What is it that charges us up. We need a level of stimulus that comes from new information and new knowledge. If we quit learning we quit maturing. The Bible is the best source of knowledge for everyday living – 2 Timothy 3:16-17. You can study it over and over and never exhaust it’s depths or the challenges it presents. 4. Emotional health (our pressure gauge). This gauge is often ignored until the pressure becomes so great we blow a gasket. Stress is one of the greatest causes of collapse in the other areas of our lives. We need a certain amount of pressure (eustress, good stress) to challenge us and help push us to grow in areas that we would not on our own. Too much stress, however, redlines our emotional gauge and results in an explosion that can have devastating results with a lot of collateral damage. We hurt not only ourselves, but also those around us; the closer the relationship, most often, the more damage -  Matthew 11:28-30.

To answer your question more specifically: Each of these areas, physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional, are so tied together that to suffer in one makes an impact on the others. If we are not taking care of our bodies, we shorten our lives and are not able to grow and serve. In the specific case of being emotionally immature and spiritually mature, both of these need to rise together or the one that is ignored will not be able to be fully accomplished. If we do not follow Jesus’ admonition to not worry (an emotion) then ultimately the problem is in our lack of trust in God to handle the situations that we are worrying about (a spiritual problem). If we are consistently angry (an emotion) with people then we are not successfully loving them (a spiritual problem) as we are admonished to by Jesus in John 13:34-35.

All of us have room to grow in all the arena’s of our lives. Because they are interconnected we cannot expect to mature in one area and ignore the others.  Spiritual growth is so interconnected with emotional well being that both need to be raised or neither will be as healthy as they can be. Spiritual maturity is often confused with knowledge of spiritual facts (Bible, doctrine, and traditions) and not the wisdom that comes with the practical application of that knowledge. In applying the knowledge we enter into the other three areas of our lives including the emotional. We cannot have wisdom without application. Thus, our spiritual maturity will be stunted without maturing in the other areas of our lives. 

Sometimes we don't monitor our gauges well and the idiot light comes on. Hopefully we will stop and see what is wrong before we are not able to go forward or make progress. If we carelfully watch the gauges on the dashboard of our lives we will be able to continue to grow into the mature person that God has designed for us to be. Don’t wait for the check engine light to come on. Check where you are Spiritually, Physically, Mentally, and Emotionally. 

Intelligent Design

I have enjoyed beginning a study of the book of Genesis with a series called "Intelligent Design." There are many arguments for a belief in a Devine Creator when you look carefully at His creation. I picked up the following information from the "Answers in Genesis" website:

Strong evidence for a Designer comes from the fine-tuning of the universal constants and the solar system

• The electromagnetic coupling constant binds electrons to protons in atoms. If it was smaller, fewer electrons could be held. If it was larger, electrons would be held too tightly to bond with other atoms.

• Ratio of electron to proton mass (1:1836). Again, if this was larger or smaller, molecules could not form.

• Carbon and oxygen nuclei have finely tuned energy levels.

• Electromagnetic and gravitational forces are finely tuned, so the right kind of star can be stable.

• Our sun is the right colour. If it was redder or bluer, photosynthetic response would be weaker.

• Our sun is also the right mass. If it was larger, its brightness would change too quickly and there would be too much high energy radiation. If it was smaller, the range of planetary distances able to support life would be too narrow; the right distance would be so close to the star that tidal forces would disrupt the planet’s rotational period. UV radiation would also be inadequate for photosynthesis.

• The earth’s distance from the sun is crucial for a stable water cycle. Too far away, and most water would freeze; too close and most water would boil.

• The earth’s gravity, axial tilt, rotation period, magnetic field, crust thickness, oxygen/nitrogen ratio, carbon dioxide, water vapor and ozone levels are just right.

Former atheist Sir Fred Hoyle states, ‘commonsense interpretation of the facts is that a super-intelligence has monkeyed with physics, as well as chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces in nature.’

Science continues to confirm the proof for a cosmic watchmaker whom we know as Yahweh. Whether it is the cosmological argument presented above or many other scientific findings in the areas of genetics, biology, archeology, or any other scientific discipline, the proof is overwhelming. Of course belief in God has never been dependant on enough proof. God has always given plenty of proof as He says through Paul in Romans:

Romans 1:18-20 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.