THE BIRTH OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST

NORTH KOREA AND THE UNITED STATES

     Are you just a little nervous about the rhetoric flying back and forth between North Korean Dictator, Kim Jung Un, and the U.S. President, Donald Trump? Having lived through the terrifying times of the 50's and 60's when words between the USSR and the U.S. sounded very similar, I understand and empathise.
     Simply, trust God to take care of that situation. Pray for God to give the two leaders the wisdom necessary to calm the situation and to come to a peaceful co-existence. Trust the fact that God always has a plan and it is good - and it is always. We need to have our minds focused primarily on God and gathering disciples and being loving examples of Jesus Christ, not trembling in our shoes like non-believers. We need to be the loving and calming community that those in fear of man's material-oriented world flee toward. We will survive all this as long as we "keep our eye on the prize."

PERSECUTION?

     I have heard comments from our fellow Christians about their having suffered persecution or perhaps they comment on having heard or read of others being persecuted in this country for their Christian faith.  It does happen, however, I doubt that it is persecution on the level experienced by the original disciples or Christians in Africa, the Middle East, or India experience for example.  I do hear from many astute Christian watchdog individuals and groups that the tide of persecution in this country is on the rise and expected to continue that rise for the foreseeable future. The extreme that it may grow to they cannot accurately forecast.

     In the publication Christianity Today's  September 2017 issue, a Syrian Christian still living in Syria to aid other Christians cautioned on the rise of persecution in his country, "It wasn't only ISIS that laid waste to the church; our cultural compromises with the government and our divisions against each other brewed for a long time.  We are Damascus, the seat of Christianity; what happened to us can happen to you. Be careful."  In my estimation, division and fighting among the various Christian sects is a major contributor to the weakening of Christianity and the rise of persecution. Though physical persecution is not the chief concern at present, the sheer magnitude of hostility toward Christians is very concerning and, at the same time, self-inflicted to a great degree by our divisions.

     The subject of a recent sermon by our church Pastor, Marty Grubbs, Crossings Community Church, had as its emphasis Christians in this country are not known as loving first and foremost but as judgmental according to studies in this area; not quite what Jesus asks of his disciples. I have been harping on this point for some time. If the mission our Lord gave us was to go out and gather disciples, then we cannot accomplish that task by being judgmental; we must be loving first and foremost. If we are being persecuted in this country, perhaps we are deserving of such.

     In his time upon this earth, our Lord was a revolutionary, and I fully believe he intends for us to follow in his footsteps. He lived, breathed, and died for love. If you don't experience God's love, then you do not know God or give him your precious time. If it is courage that you need, lean on God and ask for all the tools you need to accomplish the tasks he has assigned to you. Did He not promise us he would do as much? What is the most important commandment per our Lord Jesus Christ? Memorize it and make it your everyday - all-day clothing.  Live, breath, and die for his love - your love - loving others.  If we are being persecuted, suffer in silence and with great spiritual joy, serve with humility, and love first and foremost as He does for us.

Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV)

     "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"

     Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments."

     Remember, one cannot truly love others till he loves himself.

1 John 3:1 (NIV)

     See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

     Are we being persecuted in this country? I believe we are to some degree short of physical violence most of the time. Remember that as disciples of Christ we are different and being different will always carry with it insults and jealousy - persecution.  Let us strive to become known first for our love not our judgment and, perhaps, that will ease the persecution for being different as well as influence and encourage others to become disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Strongly, I suggest we keep in mind that we are all Christians with the same purpose and serving the same and only true God through our faith in Jesus Christ no matter which Christian sect we belong to. Let us not self-destruct. Love!

WHO AM I...?

     I have asked myself and I am certain that you have asked yourself the same question, "Who am I that God should care about me much less want a personal relationship with me, this rough around the edges and lowly sinner?"

      The smart thing to do would be to ask God, himself, and to do that, we must read his word and develop that personal relationship with him that he so lovingly desires. We must begin to understand through his word and through current discussions with him and by looking at all that he has created, not mankind, to get the full impact, the full intensity, of just how important and loved we are to him. Then and only then can you begin to understand who you are and most of all who God truly is - our Father and we his children.

     John 1:12 (NIV)

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -

     Romans 8:17 (NIV)

Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

     1 Corinthians 6:17 (NIV)

But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

     Galatians 3:28 (NIV)

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

     Ephesians 1:4 (NIV)

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In Love

     Ephesians 1:13 (NIV)

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

     Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved.

     1Thessallonians 1:4 (NIV)

For we know brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,

     So always keep in mind that, other than the faith that is necessary to believe, God puts no charge upon his acceptance of us as his children. His love for us is truly beyond any limit - giving his only son to be tortured and nailed to a cross to die an agonizing death being divine evidence of just how important we are to him. If you read, discuss, study, look around you sooner or later you will bow face-down and prostrate at the thought of how enormous, overpowering, and infinite his love is for all his children and just how far he would go to rescue and save us, his children. 

     I will soon lose a good friend in Christ and this is dedicated to him, Joe Bowling. We live forever in Christ, my friend. This is not the end, but the beginning. But you know this so well. As disciples of Christ we are meant to have a joyful spirit in the midst of the trials and tribulations that our Lord promised would come, but it is tough and we need his help. You belonged to him before you belonged to the world.

LET GOD HANDLE THE WORRYING

Let God handle the worrying and let's go about the business of gathering disciples for Him as he directed us to do. While we're at it, let's love, love, love, and love some more - so that we may become more perfect like Him. It all begins by loving ourselves unconditionally as God loves us and a simple smile like the one He gives us each morning when we awake. 

When you love even your enemies- you have no enemies. My goodness, didn't our Lord ask us to act really weird? He told us His kingdom is not of this world and that applies to his faithful, also. Isn't it a great feeling to be different - a revolutionary like our Lord? Smile!

 

WE ARE ALL EQUAL AND ALL BLESSED WITH GIFTS

     I am certain that some of those reading the articles, short stories, book, or whatever I write think that I am a self-righteous old fool or maybe a person that thinks I am a prodigious Christian academic, in other words full of himself. The truth is this; I direct my writing at myself as well as others. I spent a large amount of my life being a not-good influence on others and, surprisingly, God points out to me that those days of bad influence gave me a lot of training in forgiveness and empathy for others and yes, for myself as well. You must first learn to love, forgive, and like yourself before you can truly do the same with other people. So have empathy for yourself, first. I think a lot of people that are down on themselves and seeing their lives as hopelessly mired in the trash heap of their own making are in need of hearing it is never too late and they are loved unconditionally throughout in God's eyes. God brings us to our knees by his love.

     God tells me that if I influence or open the eyes and heart of even one person encouraging them to look to him for rescue then it is worthwhile. What I must have forgotten was that he was the one who sent me on this mission, and when God sets a task for you, you will not fail for lack of resources or strength if you just keep your focus on him and his purpose.

     So, my friends, I am no better nor greater than you. I am not a perfect and righteous person that sees himself above or better than you or any other person living now or in the past. Neither am I more loved by God - now or prior to my giving him my all. We are all equal in the eyes of God. I am certain that you have a talent, something to offer to God. I promise you that, if you do not already know, working for, serving our Lord is the most exciting and intoxicating thing you or anyone else can possibly do. I am not going to spend hours here relating the mountains my Lord has moved to help me accomplish the tasks he has set before me. There have been many times when I have just stopped in my tracks and said, Wow, that was the coolest, most astounding thing I have ever witnessed! And each time he does it, it is better than the first time. I cannot overstate this point because mankind has no words capable of completely stating much less overstating God's powerful loving will when you behold it moving mountains right before your eyes. Until you give yourself fully to him in faith and lay your talents at his feet. Yes we all have talents that God will use, called spiritual gifts: "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work." So wrote Paul in Corinthians 12:4-6.

     Paul gives us examples of these spiritual gifts in Corinthians 12:7-11: "Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines."

     What may not be evident to you as a Spiritual gift, will probably be evident to others - ask other brothers and sisters in Christ what they see in you.

     Some feel and some definitely are and some are afraid of being persecuted for their Christian faith, a faith that transforms one causing them to put on a new set of clothing before the world. Don't be afraid of the persecution and do not seek revenge or be hateful to your persecutors, but get excited from that persecution. Matthew 5:10, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It gets better and more empowering when in Matthew 5:11-12 Jesus says, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

     If you think you are not worthy due to the horrible things you have done in life before having faith as so many are, forget those things - God has. People have a tendency to think, why would God want me after all that I have done? Read what Jesus said about this in Matthew 18:12-14. "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish." And that means you and I. How great is our Lord!

     The best description is that serving our Lord is just simply exciting. Love yourself. You are a creation of God, and that fact makes you special from the start. Forgive yourself, God did. Have empathy for yourself for it is good for your spirit and gives you practice so that you can empathize with others. Compassion for those less fortunate, the poor, the rich. Yes, the rich. Just because you are materially wealthy doesn't mean that you are a bad person, you may be giving huge sums quietly and humbly, as Christian giving should be, to help those in need. The rich are some of the most spiritually needy of us all. Include them in your daily prayers. As Philo of Alexandria, an ancient Jewish philosopher, said, "Be kind to everyone you meet for everyone is fighting a great battle on the inside." Extend that to prayer and include everyone in your prayers and let God be the judge of good or bad - just love everyone as our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us. Contrary to the old saying, "you can't live on love," you can - so says our Lord and so commands our Lord. And lastly, find your Spiritual gifts, and do not put them on a shelf and let them grow dusty from lack of use. 

FAITH IN THE POWER OF PRAYER

     Making an important decision without praying is telling God -

I don't need you - I am smarter than you.