How Great is our God, Christ our Savior is born!

 Glory to God in the highest! How great is our God! - - Oh pen! Fly swiftly across this page and proclaim to the world the glories of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Born in a manger, in a cattle stall, a long time ago as an obscure peasant child. Wonder of wonders that his birth was announced by a heavenly host of angels, and shepherds were made to fear and gaze in amazement as the announcement was made that this was the promised Messiah, the Christ child whose name would be Jesus who had come to save his people from their sins.

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2: 8 14.

 The hymn writer has posed the question, "Who is he in yonder stall, at whose feet the shepherds fall?" Then he goes on to answer his own question: "Tis the Lord! oh wondrous story! Tis the Lord the King of glory! At his feet we humbly fall, crown him, crown him Lord of all!"

 These are the words of the hymn writer, Benjamin R Hanby who lived between 1833-1867. Truer words could never be spoken. He is the king of glory. We celebrate today with great joy, the birth of this special child ,"in yonder stall", who though he was the very God of glory, while on earth as a man, he had no place to lay his head. He grew up and became a man, and though he was deity, temporarily laid aside his divinity in order that he might identify with all men in their sufferings and temptation; and take upon himself the sins and condemnation of all men, and die in their place on a cruel Roman cross. Praise God, the cross and the tomb was not the end for Jesus, for when the women came to anoint his body they found the tomb empty because he had risen.

"Until the day in which he was taken up, after that through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Acts 1:2,3.

 What a great God we have, who loved each of us so much that even while we were yet sinners, he would leave the glories of heaven and condescend to the level of sinful men! Today as we gather with family and friends around our Christmas tree or dinner table and enjoy the gifts, lets just stop and consider what this day is all about. This is the day we celebrate the advent of our Lord, when

"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3: 16.

There are not enough words in the English language, or any other language for that matter, to adequately proclaim the majesty and magnificence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you do not personally know this person who was born in the Bethlehem stable so long ago as your Lord and Savior, he is at this moment offering himself to you as your sin sacrifice. He grew up, became a man,( even though he was God), and bled and died and suffered and rose again for your salvation and justification. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There is no other means of entrance into heaven except by him. He is the way, the truth and the light. He is the door by which all must enter into heaven and the presence of God the Father. The word of God says that whosoever will may come, and whosoever will come to him he will in no wise cast out. What better time could there be to receive God's unspeakable gift of love, of forgiveness of all sin, past, present, and future, through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Simply approach him, believing his word with repentant heart, and ask him to forgive your sins and come into your heart and there abide forever, and he will. The shepherds received the glad tidings of Christ's birth with joy and gladness. Why not receive the glad tidings of God's extended grace to you for your salvation with joy and gladness and gratitude on this Christmas day? - -

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Special Thoughts For Christmas Time

 

Thought for Today - November 28, 2022

Special Thoughts At Christmas Time
By Robert A. Searles
We are now entering into a new month, the "magical month" of December. The entire month could be thought of as "Christmas time"

If we would reap the most joy from this holiday season, it would do us all well if we would ponder these thoughts during the entire monh before that grea day arrives, and respond according to the will of God for our individual lives.

It is only a few more weeks and days before Christmas. This is the time for the giving and receiving of gifts. Who is the most important person on your Christmas gift list?

We celebrate the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ at Christmas time, but do we really? Where are our thoughts, and where is our mind and our heart focused, really, at Christmas time.? 

We ought to be celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but I wonder if he is at the top of our Christmas giving and receiving list, or at the middle, or at the end , or is he really there at all?

As we gather around with our family and friends to celebrate this most festive of occasions, the first gift that ought to be received with gratitude and thanksgiving is God's love gift to us, the Lord Jesus Christ. Open his gift first. Give him gratitude and praise him first for his gift of love.

At Christmas time "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3: 16. 

At Christmas time God offered us the opportunity to become his adopted children by grace through faith. "As many as received him to them gave he the power (or authority) to become the sons of God." At Christmas time he made it possible for us as the children of God to become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. At Christmas time, God gave gifts unto men.

 "Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men." Ephesians 4: 8. At Christmas time, God provided for our salvation.

Salvation is a big package, containing many things. It first of all contains forgiveness of sins, freedom from guilt, justification with God. It includes peace and joy and all the fruits of the Spirit. It contains everlasting eternal life. It guarantees an all expense paid trip to heaven and the right to walk on streets of gold. It guarantees that there is a mansion prepared and waiting for us in heaven.

 Jesus said: " In my father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also." John 14.

 The package of our salvation contains abundant life here on earth, protection from danger, healing for mind soul and body, and a guaranteed audience with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It contains all the provisions available to us in the 23 rd Psalm.

 It all happened at Christmas, and what a Christmas gift it is, thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we gather to receive and give gifts, lets first thank Christ that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, the godly for the ungodly and the righteous for the unrighteous.

Lets covenant with ourselves and with each other that we will not receive any gift from anyone else this Christmas time until we have received with gratitude in our heart, the treasure that was given to us at Christmas time. No matter how abject the poverty, or how small the bank account, or how few the gifts under the tree, no one has a right to say that they received nothing for Christmas. God gave us everything he had at Christmas time. Lets covenant with ourselves that we will not offer to anyone else our meager trinkets or gifts until we have rededicated our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and offered our selves again to him in loving gratitude and service.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present you bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12: 1. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." Matthew 6:33.

Every gift that we present to someone else should not be with the attitude of seeing how much the recipient of our gifts will be pleased with us for having given them a gift. Instead, every gift that we present to some one else ought to be a symbol of the gift that was offered to us by Christ coming into the world and shedding his blood for us. 

If opportunity presents itself, we ought to first offer to every one on our giving list, God's plan of salvation. Our first gift ought to be presented to the Lord Jesus Christ in gratitude for his gift to us. We ought to present to him our bodies as a living sacrifice which is our reasonable service. We ought to present to him our complete love and loyalty. The gift which is acceptable and pleasing to God is to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our soul. 

We ought to keep our minds clean, and our thoughts pure, and our bodies as the temple of God, spotless and clean that they may be God's dwelling place, and headquarters on earth.

If the Lord Jesus Christ is not on the top of our Christmas gift receiving and giving list, then we are not celebrating the coming of the Lord into the world. Instead, we will be celebrating a pagan festival of lustful covetousness and self seeking for vain glory and the esteem of men.

How sad it is that in this so called Christian country of ours, we are told that in order to be politically correct, we must exclude the word and idea of Christ from Christmas and celebrate a pagan holiday instead. This is utter blasphemy. 

May God have mercy on our souls and on our nation for this gross sin.

May God bless all my readers, and may you all have a most joyous and merry Christmas

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry

                                   Psalm 26:7