Today I read one of my favorite parts of the Bible. As part of our read through the bible devotionals that we have in our church, I read the last four chapters of Revelation today. I love these chapters because it is the completion of all of the promises of God throughout Scripture. God gave the Apostle John this wonderful glimpse into future events thus we get to know a good portion of what we have to look forward to.
It is so encouraging to know that Satan will be bound and defeated. That sin and suffering will finally be done away with. And that we will enjoy dwelling in the presence of God for eternity as he always had intended from the beginning.
When the drama finally unfolds I know that I will be on the winning team. What a glorious celebration that will be. It reminds me of watching Chicago Cubs games when they would actually win, and the late broadcaster Harry Carey would exclaim, Cubs Win, Cubs Win. Of course for the loveable losers in Wrigley it would come as a surprise, but for those of us on God's team it will come as no surprise. In his perfect timing, God will defeat Satan and those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus will prevail.
All this reminds me of a little chorus we used to sing at church when I was a growing up, I think it goes like this, "Break forth into joy oh my soul, break forth into joy oh my soul. In the presence of the Lord there is joy forevermore. Break forth, break forth into joy oh my soul."
As I was driving in to work this morning I got behind a car that had a less than flattering message on its back window. The sticker said kiss my [profane] I will let you figure out what profanity that it had listed on the window. I don't know what it is about people and the messages that they like to put on their vehicles.
I could only imagine that this gal is a somewhat angry person who travels around with a chip on her shoulder. I am not saying that she is angry all of the time. She didn't look angry, not that I saw her face or anything. I guess I am just hoping that she isn't angry all of the time. But if she isn't a somewhat angry person then why the message.
You probably know someone like this. Someone who always seems to be angry or is one comment away from flying off of the handle. I don't understand why these people are this way. I liked what Rob Bell had to say in 016 Store from the NOOMA DVD series (check it out at nooma.com) on this issue. To paraphrase what he said was that people who understand that life is bigger than we are. That there are issues in this world more important that a parking space or traffic or other minor issues we get angry about. He said the people that are focused on the bigger issues in life, don't sweat the small stuff and don't seem to get angry about things so much. Ok, so that was a bad paraphrase but you can check it out for yourself it was good.
So why be angry? Is it really worth it to be an angry person? Not really.
Even though we are all supposed to be joyful and full of cheer during the Christmas season, sometimes we are not feeling so hot. We may be carrying burdens that are making it virtually impossible for us to be experience the joy that we think should be there. The good news is that we can in fact, in the midst of our troubles and stesses, experience joy at Christmas. Here are three reasons why you can experience JOY at Christmas this year.
1. Jesus came because of God's great love for you.
Jesus said in John 3:16-17 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (NIV)
2. Only Jesus can heal our deepest hurts.
Concerning Jesus the Messiah, the prophet Isaiah wrote "Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment for his own sins! But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! (Isaiah 53:4-5 NLT)
3. You can receive God's gift of salvation through faith in Jesus.
Concerning the gift of salvation through Jesus, John 1:12 says, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." (NIV)
And the Apostle Paul also wrote in Romans 10:9, "For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (NLT)
No matter how good or how bad this year has been for you, you can truly have joy at Christmas because of what Jesus came to earth to do for you. Jesus himself said, "I come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)
Merry Christmas,
Pastor David
This morning has not been so good. You know those days that you just wish you could start them over, or you wonder what God is even doing in your life. This is one of those days for me. Yesterday I read chapters 11 and 12 of Hebrews from the New Testament. I especially love the first two verses of Hebrews chapter 12:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven" (Hebrews 12:1-1 NLT)
So I guess what I am taking away from these verses is that I need to keep my eyes on Jesus. I know that he had bad days as well as good ones. A bad day is not the end of the world it is merely that a bad day. There is so much more to life and to living in faith than to just let a bad day get me down. I hope that you day is not a bad one. If it is then consider for yourself how great God's love is for us in sending Jesus Christ to live and to die for you and for me.
So I am new to this whole blogging thing. I hope to be able to post insightful thoughts about life and faith and the inevitable times when those two collide. I hope that these posts get read and that they are able to impact someone somewhere in a positive way in their spiritual journey. I invite your emails and responses to my random sometimes haphazard thougths.
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