Tag: Food For Growth

^6a For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; ~ Isaiah 9:6a

When Isaiah prophesied that a child would be born, but a son is given, he was actually describing the Messiah. When he said a child is born, he was speaking about Jesus’ natural birth. He was describing His human nature that He inherited through His earthly mother, Mary.

Jesus could not come as God and die as God to save mankind. Jesus had to set off His Godliness so that He could come as a man and die as a man. Why? Because He was taking the place of mankind. Jesus took our sin upon Himself and died so that we didn’t have to. So that anyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.

Unto us a son is given, speaks about His divinity. Jesus was the second member of the Godhead before His incarnation and remained the second member of the Godhead after His death and resurrection. When Paul wrote, “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,” he was saying that Jesus did not count, think, or consider being equal to God, something that was obtainable by mere human beings. We do not and cannot obtain Godhood.

Then the Word emptied Himself is the Greek word kenosis meaning to empty. So, what Paul was explaining is that Jesus, although He was God and is still God, did not take advantage of being God, but rather, He emptied Himself of it, or in other words, put it to one side so that He could operate as a mere man, but still retain His Godhood. And that is the reason the prophet said, unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given. Because Jesus Christ, our LORD and Savior, is both God and man.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Accept His Free Gift of Salvation.

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¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ~ Luke 2:10-12

One of the most important questions we can ask is, what is the real meaning of Christmas? We’ve all seen the sign or the memes that say, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” And yes, Jesus is the reason for the season, but what is the real meaning of Christmas? Why do we have Christmas at all?

The answer is the Word of God, Jesus Himself, because it was Him that got off His throne, put aside His Godhood, put on flesh, and became a human by entering this world as a helpless tiny baby born of a virgin. Thus, ushering in peace on earth and goodwill toward men on whom His favor rests by reconciling man back to God. That is the real meaning of Christmas is that God became a man in order to give the gift of life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remember The True Reason For The Season.

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¹ Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, ² saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.” ~ Matthew 2:1-2

These wise men, or astrologers, packed up and made over a 1600-mile trip following a star. A trip this distance would take the travel somewhere around eight months or more one way. And that is, if they were coming from the Babylon area, it would be even longer if it was from Susa.

Now, they just didn’t jump in the car or call a transport service and drive to the airport, they had to walk or ride some type of animal, and usually, it was camels for such long distances. Camels were preferred because they didn’t need watering as often as horses.

So, these men as soon as they saw the star and began packing and preparing for a year-and-a-half round trip journey, it would take them a while to organize all of that. They would have probably taken their meat on the hoof. Their milk on the hoof, whether it was cow milk or goat’s milk. Then they had to make sure they had enough water and enough food to sustain all of those animals and themselves. They probably had to bring workers to care for the animals and to pack and unpack. And they probably had some type of bodyguard with them as well. I mean, they were carrying gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This was a huge entourage. This wasn’t just some weekend getaway.

There was a lot of pre-trip planning and preparation that went into preparing for this journey. Today, people have no plans for eternity. Christmas has come and gone. Jesus has been born in Bethlehem. He was crucified, He has risen from the dead, and He has ascended into Heaven.

In other words, His star has risen; are you now seeking “Him who is born the King of the Jews?” Don’t let the pressures of life distract you. Don’t let the lure of wealth divert your attention. Don’t let the length of the journey intimidate you. Don’t let the treacherous and perilous road keep you from starting.

I admit serving Jesus is not always fun and games. It isn’t always blessings and mountain tops, sunshine, and cool breezes. It will have ups and downs, valleys and rain, dark clouds, and persecution. God didn’t promise us a happy-go-lucky life. We are called to do His will, whatever that will is, because His will for us is good and perfect. Then if we endure to the end, He has promised us a perfect eternity, which is by far, much, much better than anything we could ever imagine or think.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Plan For Eternity.

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¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. ~ Genesis 3:15

Isaiah prophesied about the coming Messiah 7 centuries before His birth, that’s some 700 years. He saw with clarity where He would be born and when He would be born. And how He would be born. Isaiah was only echoing the prophecy first announced by God Himself to the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

God said the woman’s offspring, and not the man’s offspring; therefore, it had to be a virgin birth. And let me just throw this in real quick. The reason it had to be a virgin birth is because sin is passed down from generation to generation through the man. Therefore, our sacrifice had to be a sinless one; thus, a virgin birth was necessary.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. A child is born, but the son is given. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). From the very beginning, God knew that the only way to save His creation was to give us His only Son as our perfect, sinless sacrifice, and He was willing to do so.

God gave us His only Son, but we struggle to give Him a moment of our time. From the moment that His creation sinned and chose to leave Him, God could’ve written us off and told us to fend for ourselves, but He didn’t. He gave us a prophecy. He gave us a promise. That at the perfect time, He would send His only Son to take our place on the cross and bear our punishment for our sins. This is the definition of perfect love. This is the kind of love that we should strive to have for God. A selfless love that’s willing to give up everything to be with Him because we love Him. We love because He first loved us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Love With Perfect Love.

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⁶ The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” ~ Exodus 34:6–7

The LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Aren’t we so glad that the LORD is a God merciful and gracious and slow to anger? Aren’t we so glad that His steadfast love and His faithfulness are constantly surrounding us? And protecting us?

What would we do if God was to one day wake up on the wrong side of the bed, so to speak? We would all be in trouble, but as it is, God is patient with the righteous as well as the wicked, but He will by no means acquit the guilty. Did you notice that as well?

Even though God is merciful and gracious and slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness, still He punishes the guilty and does not just let them go free. So, don’t let anyone tell you that you can live and do whatever you want because their god will never send anyone to hell.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Learn The Heart of God.

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¹³ Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. ⁷ And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. ~ Matthew 9:13; 12:7

Jesus was actually quoting Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” From the very beginning, God was concerned for the lost, those who are stumbling through life. He wants them saved. But not even some of our church elders are interested in evangelism. Most churches do not prioritize targeting and evangelizing the lost; they are without a plan, neither to reach nor to equip the saints for good work and maybe that is the cause of the lack of motivation to reach the lost.

The early Church made evangelizing a priority with their preaching. Paul single-handedly turned the whole world upside down. Men, women, and children were coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus by the thousands on a daily basis.

They endured ridicule, whippings, prison, and the confiscation of their property for the right to evangelize. We, today’s Christians, are so lukewarm with our beliefs that the people we work with don’t even know we are Christians, and if they catch wind that we are, it is plain that it is in religion only. But God is not pleased with our lack of evangelizing. That is our great commission. Be His witnesses because He is concerned about the lost.

The Church has become lazy and apathetic, with no sense of urgency to reach lost people. We sit back and think to ourselves that evangelizing is the pastor’s job; that’s what he gets paid to do. Others are embarrassed or too politically correct to witness to a lost and dying world who do not know their right hand from their left.

LORD forbid we offend someone trying to save their soul from an eternity in a burning fiery lake of fire. How is it that we can have unrepented members coming to church Sunday after Sunday for years and never accept Jesus as LORD and Savior? That is incredulous. We may not be concerned about the lost, but trust me, God is very, very concerned. Will He come back and find us doing what he left us to do? Finding the lost and disciplining them.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Evangelize.

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¹⁹ Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, ²⁰ for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:19–20

We are not our own. In other words, “we DO NOT belong to ourselves.” Therefore, we must honor God with our bodies. When we begin to do what pleases us, and we try to protect our little feelings, then we are usurping the authority God has over us. I want you to think about that for a moment. This is pretty deep, and I want you to fully understand what I’m saying here.

So, what I’m saying is that when we are offended at what someone says to us or about us, we are now taking offense for God because it is Him that they are insulting, right? I mean, since we’re not our own and all of that, we should no longer be offended for someone else, namely God!

God is big enough to be offended for Himself. This is why God says so many times that vengeance is His. Because whatever people do to us, or say about us, is not to us but to and about God Himself. It’s like when Samuel felt rejected by the people of Israel because they no longer wanted a judge, but instead, they wanted a king like the other nations. God told Samuel not to feel rejected because the people weren’t rejecting him; they were rejecting God, who was their King.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be God’s.

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¹ But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ² For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. ~ 2 Timothy 3:1-5

Paul lists several last-day characteristics. Lovers of self. Lovers of money. Proud. Arrogant. Abusive. Disobedient to their parents. Ungrateful. Unholy. And several other things. These will be the characteristics that will run the world. The majority of people will fall into, at the very least, one of these categories. We can see it all around us today. People can no longer call sin, sin. We can no longer correct with love because it’s called hate. People who were standing for what is right are standing against it because of money.

The love of many is growing colder and colder. We’re running out of time to seek ye first the Kingdom. The world is getting darker and darker. Evil is being called good, and good is being called evil. Jesus will soon be breaking that eastern sky. He will soon be coming back to get His people. Are you ready? Are your family members ready? Are your neighbors and co-workers ready? This is the time to get ready. Seek the LORD while He can still be found. Don’t wait for tomorrow, for tomorrow is promised to no one. Today is the day of Salvation. Don’t wait for tribulation to come your way to turn to God. Turn to Him while it’s still summer and all is well.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pay Attention To The People.

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