Matthew 2:12 “And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.”

Magi came to see the child the portents told about. Magi – eastern philosophers, priests, and astrologers – saw a star in the sky that they had never seen before. Using all of their intellect, using their training, using what they knew, these Magians (proper form) left their home land (most probably Persia or Chaldea) and traveled, following the star, following the portents.

God called these men to the search. God Almighty took these priests – these sacredotians who “waited upon the sacred fire”, who practiced divination, who’s predecessors Nebuchadnezzar had nearly killed over a dream and later placed under Daniel’s control – and turned them into instruments of His use. These Magians followed the star to Jerusalem and while Bethlehem and Jerusalem are close to each other, these men were proficient enough at what they did to be able to discern the difference of a couple miles. Why did they stop in Jerusalem? Why did they ask Herod where they were going? These wise men were led by God to Herod. These wise men were searching for Virgil’s Great King, for Zoroaster’s prophecy of “Zosiosh”, the Head of the kingdom to come (who was to come from Jacob’s seed as told by Balaam) and they knew that this divine ruler was to come from the Jews.

A prophecy they fulfilled, a prophecy by Jeremiah that the children of Rachel would be slaughtered (Jeremiah 31:15). These wise men, these astrologers were used by God to fulfill a prophecy about the death of all the children two years and under in Bethlehem, the birthplace of our savior, Jesus.

The message of divine salvation had been spread throughout the area. The dispersion of the ten tribes of Israel had carried the story of the “great king” wherever they went. It was well known and documented that there was to be a “king of kings” to come from Judah. God had already begun the work, His work of salvation for our entire world, past and future. Yet these magi were looking for a physical king to unite the world and eradicate wickedness, evil, and sin. The wise men had all the prophecies and information that the Jews did, and they drew the same conclusion. From our historical vantage point (hindsight is always 20/20), we understand Christ was to be a suffering servant in the first coming. In fact Christ shall reign over all the earth and actually be the King of all Kings during His second coming.

These wise men came to look for this physical king. These Magi came searching for their physical hope. What they found was their spiritual hope. What they brought were gifts, the fulfillment of prophecy, and death.

They brought gifts to represent Christ’s reign, they brought the completion of the prophecy to be a sign to the people of Judea and Israel, and they brought death to all the other similarly aged children of Bethlehem.

God used these men to His purpose. God used these men to fulfill His desires. No matter what beginnings or what ends come through God’s use, we can all be used by Him and He will use us whether we desire to be used or not.

Willingly we allowed God entrance and domination into and over our lives; willingly we should let God work through our lives; willingly let God work in your life.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

This is Christmas, the season of love and joy and happiness, and yet it is the most stressful part of the year. Why is it stressful? Why do we even celebrate the birth?

As Joe, the president of Ravi Zacherias International Ministries (Canada) says in a speech (abbreviated): There are two parts to Christmas, if we ignore half the reason for Christmas then we just have a holiday and we stress ourselves out.

The two parts of Christmas are- 1) The birth and 2) the death of Christ. We celebrate the birth but forget the death and thus we miss the importance of the holiday. Without the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior we would have no reason to celebrate His birth. The inverse of course is obvious. In Colossians 1 vs 12 and 13, it says: “[We are]giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us out of the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”

Christ died so that we may have life. Ephesians 5:2 says “walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.” This follows 2 Corinthians 5:14 “For the love of Christ constrains us, having judged this, that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that the living ones may live no more to themselves, but to the One having died for them and having been raised…17 So that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!”

Christ’s birth and death were God’s perfect way of giving us salvation from our evil desires; from what sins we had wrought, from the death we brought on ourselves when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit. Because God is perfect, for us to be with Him, we must be perfect. If we do even one wrong thing, then we must be separated from Him forever. For us to deal with God, our imperfection, our evilness must be removed, expunged from the record. We can not do that on our own. Our just God has no alternative but to condemn us. His great love for us, His creation, would not let him do that. The only other option was for Him to assume our wrongs. To do that, He sent His son to earth. That is what we celebrate on Monday. His Love. His Birth and the road to His death.

I am sure that you all know of Compassion International. You sponsor a child for a dollar a day, and they have food and medicine, education and clothing. Think of this. Christ is our great sponsor. His blood on that one day provides us with righteousness and cleanliness, water that quenches our thirst and food that fills our spirit, an eternal home and communion with the Most High God. This is what we celebrate on Monday. His Love. His Birth and the road to His death, His sponsorship of us to Salvation.

I leave you with Romans 5:8 “But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.” Christmas and Easter. The Birth, Death, and Resurrection. Christmas and Easter. Our salvation from sin. Celebrate therefore the gift which God has graced you with. Celebrate His mercy and love. Do not hide your faith, and do not forget why we celebrate. Do not hide your faith and do not stutter when giving your testimony. Let His light shine through you and become a blessing to those around you.

May the glory of the Lord light your way. May He bless you and may He guide you to bless others during this glorious time.

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.”

Peace, something that well need. Peace, a dream which we all share. Peace something we hear about, yet never seem to fully experience or acquire. Oh, we thing that we have it…once in awhile, (and to some extent, we do) yet our lives always seem so hectic.

Yet Christ promises to give us this peace, His peace. While we may not understand it, while we are unable to comprehend it, He gives us this peace - His ability to get through, to cope with each day, each moment. Christ’s peace enables us to treat each other with amity and love.

We are graced by God so that no matter what happens, we keep our equilibrium and
(hopefully) our temper when our tasks or problems seem too big for us. He graces us so we are then able to not let our hearts be troubled or fearful. He graces us and gives us His peace so that we - like job - can fight and argue with God (and he will lovingly correct us); or we can trust in Him and blindly follow so that like Peter we can jump out of the boat and try to walk towards God, no matter what crosses our path, no matter what tides may pull on us. As long as we are properly grounded, rooted firmly in God so that we may fully rely on Him, we shall get through.

Though the results may not be what we expected, we shall still get through. The journey and how we travel it is what is important to God. His peace guides us, His grace leads us so long as we allow it, for God is my shield and my strength, my ever present help in time of need. For His name’s sake I shall suffer and count it all joy. His rod and staff shall guide and comfort me in all sorrows, in all joys, in all times.

God, please guide me and shield me. Enfold me in your tender mercies. Give me your peace no matter what comes at me, whether it is prosperity or poverty, ease or adversity,goodness or grief. Guide me and comfort me. Be with me and stay by my side – carry me should I need it. I pray this Lord of thee. Amen.

Luke 17: 4 "And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him." ⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

This is advent, the season before we celebrate the birth of Christ, our savior. Christ came to this earth to seek the lost, to bring salvation to all men, to forgive. How much do we think about forgiveness?

Garth Brooks has a song with this as the chorus: "We bury the hatchet/ But leave the handle stickin' out/ We're always diggin' up things/ We should forget about/ When it comes to forgettin'/ Baby, there ain't no doubt/ We bury the hatchet/ But leave the handle sticking out "

One great obstacle to us in our walk with God is non-forgiveness. While the hatchet might seem to be buried, yet people continue to grab hold of the handle when they want to use it against someone. Jesus said if a brother repents, forgive him-that is, bury the hatchet and its handle. How many times, you might ask? As often as the brother repents, we are to forgive.

To forgive as often as is asked is a feature of Christ. We as men, I for myself, find forgiving over and over and over for the same basic things very annoying, after the first couple of failures, I start asking “why do you keep doing this?” Sometimes they seem that they are not even trying to change.

When people say “I am sorry” is that not supposed to mean that they are repentant? That they will try not to do it again? No. When people say “I am sorry” they are recognizing that they have failed, that I have failed. It needs to be furthered with “Will you forgive me” for repentance sake. The problem here however is again, do we keep forgiving?

Christ does.

No matter what is done towards us, no matter what we do to others, however much we do not like it, we are to forgive constantly, not holding and keeping a grudge. Rather we are to let it go, completely. Once we have forgiven someone of something, that error, that failure, that dumb and hurtful act no longer exists.

Yet to forgive like this is not something that we as humans can do easily or even totally. We must have Christ help us. The only way that we can fully bury the hatchet is with Christ’s hand on the shovel to get through the rocks and tough soil, to dig a big and deep enough hole for each and every single problem that we must forgive.

Don't grab hold of buried hatchet handles, for they become stumbling blocks to forgiveness.

As the Disciples asked, we should too: Lord increase our faith so that we too might be able to more easily forgive, and forgive, and forgive.

03 December 2006

1st Peter 4:13 ‘but according as you share the sufferings of Christ, rejoice; so that you may rejoice exultingly at the revelation of His glory.”

The early evening sunset directs it’s harsh red rays over the horizon. The black swathed young lady sheds tears as she looks to the backs of her parents. She must walk. The children in her village grab sticks and stones, and throw them at her as she trudges through the sands and walks away from the life she knew. She has no place to go, she has only what she carries to live on. What can she do but find the one who taught her, to find others like herself.

This is a scene that plays out many times. Sometimes it is a saddened man, sometimes it is a woman, sometimes a child and sometimes an elder. This is pain and suffering. This is the pain and suffering that Christ brought.

That is right. Christ came to Earth to bring pain and suffering. He came and brought revilement and hatred. Christ came to bring us such affliction as to save us from worse sufferings in the future.

For Christ’s sake we are mistreated, for standing in His name, we are reviled, ridiculed, and repulsed from society. For Christ’s sake we return to the societies that hate us, that mock us, that chastise us. We do this to bring them the same pain, the same torment to others as we too go through. Why?

Without Christ, we would suffer in hell for an eternity, without Christ we would be lost to God. Without Christ, we are separated from God and his splendor and majesty.

With Christ, we suffer on earth for a short time. With Christ, we are found by God. With Christ, we are joined to God and live in his splendor and majesty.

Christ was born to die.

We die to be born anew, to be saved through His suffering. Because we are of Christ, we are detestable to Satan, and feared by the lowerarchy. Because we are feared we are made to suffer. Because we suffer, we bring Glory to God.

All Glory Laud and Honor to thee redeemer King. Halleluiah in the Highest.