The True Message of Christmas (Luke 2:10-12)

The first message, announcement, of the birth of Christ was given to shepherds. Imagine, the lowliest, poorest, most disregarded class of Jewish society were the first to hear of Christ's birth. And not just a casual announcement, either. An angel came who was then joined by "a multitude of the heavenly host" singing praises to God for this great miracle. Let's look at this message given, because it was the most powerful, most complete, and truest message given of the Christ.

In verses 10-12 we have the message: "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 Saviour, 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."

In the Greek, verses 10 & 11 are laid out like this:
     The Announcement
        The Time
           A Savior
           Christ
           The Lord
        The Place
     The Sign

You can see that the heart of the message is "a Savior, Christ the Lord." Let's look at that to discover why this is the strongest message of Christmas - and the only true message.

Not a helper, but a Savior. A Savior is for the lost. Jesus says of himself, "I am come to seek and save that which is lost." We are lost because He recognizes us as lost, whether we do or not. He is the One coming, He is the One dying, He is he One rising on the third day, He is the One Coming again - for us, whether we realize it or not.

Christ the Lord. He is the Lord of all power and might; therefore, He is able to save. In these three words we find the entire gospel. It is good news as to a Person. And it is distinctly Christianity, which is about a person, as opposed to Religion, which consists of Articles, Creeds, Doctrines, and Confessions - all that is outward.

The angels sang of a Person, not a new tradition. They sang of His majesty, not a prescribed litany.
     When they gathered in the sky, it was to adore the Savior.
          When the shepherds knelt before Jesus, it was to worship the
                      One of whom the angels sang.
               When the wisemen brought gifts, it was for the One Who
                           would save His people from their sins.

This Christmas day, should our lives not be for the proclamation of the Lord's Anointed, the One Who is full of grace and truth? The One Who alone can save us out of our every predicament? The only One Who can give true joy and light?

So I say to you, Merry Christmas! Christ the Savior is born!

Joseph and his dream (Matthew 1:19-25)

Joseph was a pretty important character in the Christmas story. In fact, of all the people in the whole Bible who had dreams, Joseph had the most - four dreams! And thank God he did, or Jesus may never have been born.

Joseph was a "just man". That is, he desired to obey the Law of God. So when he found out that Mary, his wife, was pregnant - and not by him - he was in quite a quandary. He was very kind, and had no desire to make this thing public. If he did, the Law demanded that Mary be stoned. So he made up his mind to put her away secretly, through divorcement.

Now the Bible says, "While he pondered these things..." (v. 20). While he was considering which of these two options to take, an angel appeared to him in a dream. In essence, the angel said, "Joseph, there is a third option, and here it is, and this is why."

Have you ever been in a quandary about what to do? And you feel like you have exhausted all your options? And none of them look all that good? Well, God still has ideas that you have never had. We can't see down the road and around the bend, but God sits up high above the earth and can see everything. So why not ask Him? And wait for His answer.

Satan was trying his best to stop Jesus from coming into the earth. He put pressure on Joseph to do the right thing. And there were two right things to choose from, according to the Law. But aren't you glad that God is more involved in grace than law? When it looks impossible, and Satan is trying to get the upper hand in your life, God in His grace comes with a totally unheard-of option. An option, that when revealed, makes perfect sense.

And when Joseph obeyed and took God's option, Jesus was born - the Savior of the World! You see, with God, there is no Plan B. Plan A always works, if we will obey God. Take a lesson from Joseph.
Start looking to God for Plan A, His plan, the one that always works. Be willing to wait until you relax and quit fidgeting (like, take a nap, dude!). God is never late, He is always on time!

Blessings this Christmastime!

Zacharius & Mary (Luke 1)

Boy! The messenger angel was certainly busy during that first Christmas season! Think about it, he sat around for nearly 400 years waiting to deliver a message to someone. Then suddenly, in a period of a few months, he was speeding up and down the land of Israel, delivering messages to men and women alike.

Two of those messages were to an old priest named Zacharias, and a young virgin girl named Mary. One was in the south of the land, the other in the north. Their messages were quite similar, but their reactions were vastly different, with quite different consequences.

Zacharius (Zachary, today, or Zach, if you please) was an old priest, married to Elizabeth, a barren wife. Here he was,
     ending his days in the priesthood
          with no successor,
               no child,
                    no grandchildren. Not a very promising picture, to say the least. But while in the temple, performing his required services, an angel appears with a message. It was a glorious message, too! (Luke 1:5-23) Not just some ho-hum event, it was a world-changer.
     He would have a son,
          his name would be John,
               and he would go around announcing the coming of the long-awaited Messiah.
Okay, finally after all these years of no children, we have paydirt!!

Here comes the problem: First thing out of his mouth was a wrong question. Did you ever want to grab what you just said and stuff it back in your mouth? Instead, it just hung out there in the air in vibrant neon color. Oh no! He said, "How shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years?" (v. 18) ...and the angel struck him dumb, until John was born.

Now, here is Mary.
     She is a very young girl
          (in today's standards),
               unmarried,
                    and no real prospects of a husband. She is just beginning life, unlike Zach, and her whole future is before her. The messenger angel shows up in her room with a glorious message (is there any other kind from heaven?), just for her.
     She would have a son!
          He would be the promised Messiah from heaven. (Luke 1:26-35)
               And she would call him the Son of God.
In so many ways, she was scared spit-less.

Here comes the question, just like Zach, sort of. She asked, "How shall this be, I am not married?" (v. 34) ...and the angel explained it to her, unlike Zacharias.

So what is the difference? They both had good reason to ask a question. Zacharias felt the promise had come too late. Mary felt the promise had come too soon. But Zacharias questioned the fact of the promise, while Mary only inquires as to the mode.

So be watchful this Christmas season. You may not know how Jesus will appear to you, but know for a fact that he will. For he promises, that if we will believe, he will come to us and make his home with us.

Be blessed this Christmas season!

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. Matthew 2:10

What a joyful sentence in the midst of this - or any - Christmas season! When they saw the star...

But wait a second, they had followed it for nights and days, and it led them to Israel to see the newborn King of the Jews. Why now did they rejoice?!

They were human, just as you and I are. Wouldn't you assume that the new king would be born in the capital of the country? Where the temple was? That is a natural assumption, if you hadn't read the prophecies, or hadn't read them closely enough. So, when they got to Jerusalem, they did the normal thing. They went to the palace and asked the present king. And they started a furor that caused many babies to die a terrible death.

Apparently, in their haste and wrong decision to go to Jerusalem and ask of Herod, the star vanished. In some way, they could no longer see it. But when they left Jerusalem without a solid answer to their question, the star suddenly appeared again, and (I believe) they realized their mistake and rejoiced that the star was still there. As it turned out, they were guided to Nazareth, not Bethlehem, and to the "house where Jesus was," and there they fell down and worshiped Him.

We all must seek Him and follow Him by faith. There is no other way. Sometimes the glitz and glimmer of this world, sometimes the noise and busyness, sometimes the schedules and demands, dim our view of faith. We lose our way, as it were, and we begin to come up with our own idea of what we should do. That is when we discover that we have made a mess of things and can't figure out how to get out of it all.

Repent means to turn and go another way. They left Jerusalem (repented?) and went another way when they saw the star. That brought great rejoicing!

May I encourage you, and me, this Christmas season? Keep your eyes on the Star of the season - Jesus. Turn away - in your heart - from all the noise, and schedules, and gift-buying, and gift-opening, and family gatherings, and dinners, and keep your eyes on the Star. That is where the change is. That is what will make Christmas - and your life! - different. It will cause you to "go home another way" (v. 12).

Like the chorus says:
     "Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
     Look full in His wonderful face,
     And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
     In the light of His glory and grace."
                                                 - Helen H. Lemmel

Where is He who is born king of the Jews? Matthew 2:2

All my adult life I wondered why Herod went ballistic when the wisemen came to him and asked this question of him. One Christmastime Sunday morning, I was preaching about the wisemen. I arrived a little early at the church and had time to review my message. I decided to read the passage from my Greek New Testament. In doing so, I suddenly stopped at verse 2 on the word "born". Something was wrong, this wasn't the normal Greek word for "born". And why was this word chosen over the normal word for born?

I began to research the issue, and found the answer to my long-asked question. There are four Greek words for "born", this being the last one normally used. This word (teek'-tow) places emphasis on the product, rather than the process. It doesn't focus on the conception or the gestation, but rather the finished product itself.

In a literal sense, the wisemen were asking Herod, "Where is he, the product of the seed, the king of the Jews?" And that is what made Herod go crazy (I should say, crazier). He wasn't the true king of the Jews. He had usurped that position and had gotten Rome to validate it. Inside, he always knew that his position was tenuous, at best. Now here come these wisemen (read, goofballs, to Herod) who want to know where the king of the Jews is. And they identify him perfectly, and separate him from Herod and his offspring. All in one word!

When Adam and Eve sinned, God promised the devil, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15). For centuries, the Jews had looked for the seed of the woman, the Messiah (read, Product of the Seed) to come. And Herod, being part Jew, would certainly be aware of this most prominent promise among the Jews. He knew his time was soon to be up, and the devil in him knew as well.

Thus begins the bruising of His (the Messiah's) heel with the killing of the babies in Bethlehem.
Thus begins the bruising of Satan's head with the birth of, the appearance of, the product of the seed, the Messiah.
And just mention Jesus in public, and watch "Herod" go ballistic. Same results today as when He was born a baby in Bethlehem.

This is a glorious season, Christmas, set in the midst of political, financial, social, and personal upheaval. Why does it happen that way? To remind us that the Product of the Seed has come, He has bruised Satan's head. And very soon, He will destroy Satan's influence over the people of the earth forever. Christmas is still a foretaste of that which is to come.

Now, the birth of Jesus was on this wise. (Matthew 1:10-18)

Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus, filled with less than perfect men and women, less than stellar kings. So filled with such imperfect specimens is this listing that the Holy Spirit then says: “Now the birth of Jesus was like this.” Or “On the contrary the birth of Jesus was like this.”

His birth was so very stellar and other-worldly compared to his lineage that there is no comparison at all.

The “players” in the drama are

          Mary & Joseph

          Zacharias and Elizabeth

          The shepherds

          The wise men

          King Herod

          Anna of Asher

          Simeon of Judah.

And the inn-keeper

Each had their mundane lives to live:

          Mary & Joseph lived in a backwater town.

          Zacharias and Elizabeth were at retirement age, having spent

their whole lives in a non-eventful and thankless job, and childless.

          The shepherds were caught up in a monotonous and lonely

                   routine.

          The wise men – a few of many scholars – were wise by

                   knowledge, but they had no real experience. They were

                   insulated by their books.

          King Herod was caught between Rome and the Jews. Not a

real king, he was distrustful of everyone, and distrusted by everyone.

          Anna & Simeon had spent a lifetime of waiting with only a

                   thread of hope.

          The inn-keeper was a little known businessman in a village

whose only sense of importance was the claim to the

birthplace of King David.

In a two-year period, each had an interesting encounter with God.

          Zacharias stumbled into God’s presence.

          Elizabeth and God used the same body.

          The shepherds and God attended the same angelic concert.

The inn-keeper and God used the same stable for their

lambs.

          The wise men and God were interested in the same star.

          King Herod and God had designs on the same throne.

          Anna and God inhabited the same temple waiting to give

                   thanks and receive thanks.

          Simeon and God anticipated the same Salvation for Israel.

          Joseph and God had an eye for the same woman – and met

                   in a dream to work it all out.

          And Mary’s and God’s “fullness of time” occurred at the same

                   time in the same place.

And yet, each would have lived a life that was unknown and not-long-remembered by more than one or two others…except…

          for the unseen,

                   other-worldly,

                             cataclysmic events that were occurring

                                      simultaneously.

And what of your “mundane” life? And what of the worldly events happening all around you without your control? Could it be that God is doing something

          unseen,

                   other-worldly

                             cataclysmic

                                      and simultaneous with you?

Could I encourage you today to be an Anna or a Simeon? Could you commit yourself to waiting on God? staying in His presence? not giving up with the passing of time?

Could I encourage you to be a Mary and allow God to do impossible things with you? Could you be a Joseph and allow God to change the course of your life and future history?

Like Zacharias and Elizabeth, would you start life again at what the world considers the end and produce a greater blessing for God – and the world?

Like the shepherds, would you release your hands from this world’s busyness to bow before God in adoration?

Or like the wise men, would you allow God to re-chart your life and send you to unknown places to supply needed gifts for the King?

Today, no one thinks of these first century AD lives as mundane. Instead we wish we had been there. We dream of what it would be like to be one of them. We give God praise that each of them allowed God to invade their mundane-ness.

And we take hope and are encouraged that God is also using us in a very significant way. And He is!

          “He that began a good work in you will continue it until the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

Did you say otter skin?

 
Many years ago, as a young pastor, I was re-reading the Old Testament passage about the wanderings in the wilderness of the Hebrew children. As I was reading I came across the passage that told about dismantling the tabernacle for each move in the desert. One of the interesting things was the coverings that went over each piece of furniture in the tabernacle to protect it for traveling. I suddenly stopped reading and said, "Otter skins?!"

The otter lives in/near water. And of course, the Hebrew children were in the desert - way in the desert. To even have otter skins, some of the men would have had to make a trip to the coast to catch otters. So this was a big undertaking. But my main shock was the need to cover the furniture with otter skins in the desert. The main thing value of otter skins is that they are waterproof. So what was the necessity of covering everything with this waterproof material in the desert?

This question haunted me for years. I could not seem to get an answer to this elusive question. How do you search out something like that? I didn't know where to begin, except to ask other pastors and scholars. No one seemed to have an answer. They had just accepted it, thinking that it wasn't all that important. But I knew that everything in the Bible was important. So I kept searching and wondering.

Many years later, I was reading in the Psalms and came across a verse that stopped me in my tracks. It was the long-evasive answer to my question about otter skins in the desert. Psalm 68:7, 8 reads, "O God, when You went out before Your people, When You marched through the wilderness, The earth shook; The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel (nkjv)." Wow! There was my answer.

When it was time to move, the pillar of cloud (fire at night) that stood over the tabernacle would lift, indicating to all the people that it was time to pack up and move. As they began to move, the cloud (fire) would go before them, leading the way. And as it lifted up in the heavens and pushed itself through the atmosphere, it shook out the water. Rain! Rain! That is why the furniture was covered with waterproof material. Wow!

That is why I love the Bible so much. It not only is truth for me, it also has mysteries for a mystery-lover. When they say that the Bible is everything; it truly is. What fun reading! What marvelous discoveries are waiting to be found.

Go up, you bald head!

A Facebook friend asked this question, "I have a question for my christian friends. Could 2 Kings 2:23, 24 have been mistranslated? If not, what does it mean?" I don't normally write much in Facebook, just read a lot of what goes on out there. But this question caught my attention, and I felt it deserved an answer. After thinking through the question for most of the day, I finally answered. Here is my answer in two parts, first question and second question.

The Hebrew word is na'ar. It is used of Isaac who was 28, Joseph who was 30, and Rehoboam who was 40. God took the taunting of these children in Second Kings personally in this way. Though Elijah was bald, he lived another 50 years, so he was probably prematurely bald. However, the "Go up" of verse 23 was the real taunt and was blasphemous about the way that God was intending to raise Elijah to heaven. It was a blasphemous insult to God. These children were certainly old enough to have been taught the scripture and respect - especially respect of God. In verse 24, the Hebrew word for children is a different Hebrew word and actually refers to/means progeny - the produce of the womb. My children are 38 and 40. They are still, and always will be, my progeny. In a couple of places in the scriptures (one in Psalms) God says, "Touch not mine anointed, nor do my prophet any harm." Today, there is virtually no respect for pastors/ministers. Most of that is due to some of the ones who have acted in unholy ways, to be sure, some is due to lack of teaching true respect in the home. But it really makes it hard for the ones who try to follow God, hear Him and love others. What if God did the same in this dispensation as He did in Second Kings? Would it help to bring back respect for these men/women of God? Fortunately for us, this is the age of Grace and not Law!

Question two - Could this be mistranslated? It is a poor translation. The problem with translation is that languages and words change in meaning. Example: the Gay 90s and gays today. In the King James times, you would have a sentence like this. "Bring the carriages freely by and by." We would not understand that today without a little research. Carriages were pieces of luggage, freely meant without pay, and by and by meant immediately. (Does that make you scratch your head?) So the sentence today is "Bring the luggage immediately without pay." The problem all translators have is how to stay true to the original language and yet still express the truth in modern parlance.

Paul's exhortation to Timothy is still relevant today. "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, handling correctly the Word of God." (2 Timothy 3:15)

After 4 years of writing (off and on), and after more than 15 years of preaching on the subject (more on than off), my new book Victory Ground is out and available from Amazon. Click here to view/order it: http://www.amazon.com/Victory-Ground-Gary-B-Gilmore/dp/1479216526/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351372072&sr=1-1&keywords=Victory+Ground

My wife states: "This book reveals that from the day a person accepts Jesus as Savior, that person is placed on Victory Ground! The outcome of every battle and every trial has already been won. In light of that truth, this book shows how to enjoy this victory which was not earned, but given to us as part of our salvation."

I know you will enjoy it. I have made it easy to read and full of encouragement for even the newest Believer. So many older Christians have thanked me for this book, stating that they have never heard it like this before.

And if you buy and read, I would so appreciate you writing a review on Amazon at the same page where you viewed the book (click on the link above, go down to Customer Reviews).

Thanks!

Are You Holy?

Are you holy? Right now you are probably flinching, withdrawing from the question. Certainly, if you are like the great majority of mankind, you are saying or thinking, "No! Of course not." You know you should be because you are encouraged to be "holy, for God is holy" (1 Peter 1:16). But you know you aren't because you sin, don't pray enough, curse, drink, smoke, don't go to church, etc. You intend to quit all those things, and start living right....but...

If you have asked Jesus into your heart, according to the Bible, you are holy. The problem is, you believe the religious idea of what holy is, instead of the Bible truth. And because of that, you live a life of conviction and defeat, and you try to cover it up or get away from it, so you can have some kind of peace.

OK, let's look at this thing called holy. The Greek word (which is the language in which the New Testament was written) for holy is hagios (don't worry about pronunciation). In it's purest sense, it means "set apart." If I were to invite you to dinner, and seat you at my table, there would be a plate, a glass, and some tableware in front of you. Understanding this Greek word, I would say that those items are holy to you. In other words, they are for your use at that meal. Don't worry, I have my own set, as does everyone at the table. We won't take yours. Why? Because they are set apart for your use.

That is what holy means! Something or someone set apart for another's use. So when God says He is holy, He is telling you that He has set Himself apart for your benefit. And He asks you to be holy like He is, set apart for His benefit. Of course, your can't do that. That is why Jesus died on Calvary and rose again on the third day, and gave you His Holy Spirit: so you could be holy. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing (making holy) of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5).

What Christ did was set you apart for His benefit. When you ask Him into your heart, you become holy. Now all you have to do is act like it. We say to someone, "Be a man!" or "Man up!" And we only say it because the person can. The Bible tells us to be (act) holy, and it only says that because we can. With the help of the Holy Spirit. So...be holy. And when someone asks you, "Are you holy?" Just say, "Yes!"

By the way, there are a number of words we use that are forms of this Greek word holy.
The adjective (which requires a state of being verb) is holy.
The noun is saint.
The verb to make holy is sanctify.
The place where holy people gather is a sanctuary.
All these words are the same word in the Greek - hagios with a different ending to make them an adjective, verb, noun, adverb, etc.

Work Out From the Bible

I was speaking with a family member today. An ongoing struggle with health has invaded the household. It has at times been life threatening. I, for one, do not take health issues lightly. Satan is a formidable foe, defeated to be sure, but certainly formidable. I thought I might share at-large what I said to this family member.

Remember to work out from the Bible. Jesus said, "It is finished." (John 19:30) And Peter says in his epistle, "By His stripes we were healed." (1 Pet. 2:24) Paul tells the Romans, "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Rom. 12:2) Combining all these thoughts into one, I said, "Work out from the Bible." Too often we try to work into the Bible, and we find it quite hard to reconcile what we feel, how we hurt, to what the Bible says. That is not transforming ourselves, but trying to transform God and his Word to how we feel now.

We can't say, "I believe I will be healed." Or some such. That puts the issue into the future, and the future never comes. It is always today, never tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. But if we reach back to what has been said, what has been done, then we can move forward from that position. God says I am healed, then I am healed. Good starting position for transformation.

The Bible says, "By his stripes we were healed." If I was, then I am. If God's word is stronger than anything else, then we are proceeding from the strong, making the weak to bow down. My body may take awhile transforming to God's word, but the promise is that it will eventually.

Psychiatry believes this. It tell us we are a result of our past experiences. For instance, you constantly hear, "You'll never amount to anything." Eventually, you start believing it, and you suffer from that past designation. Well, a past experience is that Jesus bore our sins and sicknesses on the cross, and we are healed (see Isaiah 53). OK, then we begin to say what we have heard, we act out what we have heard. Guess what? Slowly, but surely, it begins to happen.

Now, you may not believe this. That is fine. But before you say it isn't true, you need to know that twice I have been healed from a life situation that the doctors insisted would result in my death. To their surprise, I have now lived more than 20 years longer from their diagnosis of the first disease, more than 15 years longer than their second diagnosis.

If you are willing to do it God's way, it will work. Don't grow weary in well-doing! God is always true to his Word.

"Thanks be unto God who always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus!" (2 Cor. 2:14)

A great, thriller of a book: Rare Earth

Here's another new book by my favorite author Davis Bunn. Rare Earth is a great book. Read my review below, then answer one of the questions that follows for a chance to win your own copy of the book. Answer both questions for two chances to win.


And NOW my review:

Davis Bunn is a master storyteller. But the story is not the same every time. He manages to create new plots and new progressive story lines with every book. That is why I keep coming back to his novels. It is folly to think you know how a book will go just because it is a Davis Bunn book. On the contrary, he delights in change and newness. Refreshing! Rare Earth will not disappoint the reader. The second book in his Marc Royce Series, Rare Earth is a stand-alone book. Only the main character, Marc Royce, is the same. Everything else changes­—everything! Drop all pre-conceived ideas and notions about this book, and prepare for a fast-paced, hair-raising, all-consuming novel.

Once again, on short notice, Marc Royce is thrown into an impossible situation that will affect whole people groups, nations and individual lives. Kenya is about to be changed from an idyllic, peace-loving country with unimaginably beautiful vistas to polluted water supplies and money-grabbing fortune seekers. Marc enters the country not knowing his enemies from his friends, and his enemies are the deadliest foes one can imagine. He has to make his friends one by one. In less than five days, he totally changes a starving, dying refugee camp into an orderly operation full of hope. But in the process, he accrues great wrath and uncovers a sinister plot to destroy all of Kenya in the name of wealth. Marc is a man of quick understanding, powerful ideas, and great physical, mental, and spiritual strength; and he needs it all to survive and to stop a heinous crime from taking place. Of course, he succeeds. But not anything like you would imagine. More twists and turns than a mountain road, this book will hold you spellbound till the very last word. Enjoy Rare Earth!

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from Bethany House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Now answer one question for a chance to win your own copy of the book, answer two for two chances. (Be sure to include your email address to be notified, if you win):

1.  If you could serve as a missionary in another country, where would you go?

2.  If you were a secret agent, what two things would you keep on your person at all times?

To view a book trailer of Rare Earth: www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_WbtTeaubI

To read the first three chapters free: http://www.scribd.com/doc/92010687/Rare-Earth-by-Davis-Bunn-Sample-Chapters-1-3