Saturday, January 18, 2014

Focus '14-Modeling Jesus-Entry #3


 
Hi Friends!

Each morning this year I have been sending out a daily email to a group of you as requested. I've expanded the email from simply providing a Scripture verse to also providing a short introduction to the verse as well as some possible applications from the verse. I will do my best to be consistent with this and ask for your grace should there be a day from time to time where I am unable to do so.

Should you not be receiving the email and would like to receive it, please click the following link: jeff@connectionscc.org and let me know. My goal in sharing the Scripture verse each day is to help others 1) go deeper in The Word and 2) go deeper in the world without becoming part of the world.

As stated in prior posts, these are my goals for Connections Christian Church in 2014 or stated another way, we are looking to "Model Jesus" and have His "Love Take Us Over." Thank you for your positive feedback about our goals and lesson series from the gospel of Matthew. This week we will be reflecting upon the miracle of the virgin birth of Jesus.

Matthew 1:18 says, "This is how the birth of Jesus came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit."

Matthew 1:22 says, "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel'-which means, 'God with us.'"

Do you believe in miracles? If you desire to "Model Jesus" you must believe in miracles. A miracle is literally an act of God contrary to the laws of nature as we understand them. Some skeptics, even some scholars, mock the virgin birth of Jesus. What about you?

Thanks to modern medicine a virgin can give birth today through artificial insemination. In light of what man has learned to do, should anyone really doubt what God has already done? The miracle of the virgin birth is critical to salvation.

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in a virgin giving Him a sinless nature that manifest itself fully on the cross of Calvary with His humble, atoning sacrifice for our sins. Therein lies another miracle of life.

We celebrate The Sanctity of Life this Sunday at Connections Christian Church. We also celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this Monday. We celebrate both knowing that the miraculous story of Jesus allows every conceived child of every race the opportunity to be one in Him.

Long before there was legalized abortion or even a formal civil rights movement there was a song that I learned as a child. It says "Jesus loves the little children; all the children of the world; red and yellow; black and white; they are precious in His sight; Jesus loves the little children of the world."

That song is still true and the miracle of Jesus' birth, death, burial, and resurrection prove it. The only thing I would add to the song is a lyric that says, "Jesus loves all the children of the world; children of all races; all born and all unborn; all nurtured in their mother's womb; Jesus loves all the little children of the world."

If you believe in miracles, please join me in asking God to supernaturally bring all people to saving a relationship with Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel and the ministry of His Church. In so doing, abortion clinics would shut down and racial harmony would just be known as harmony amongst all God's children.

God's Peace,
Jeff

1 comment:

  1. We are surrounded by miracles - the physical ones (conception, birth, growth, death), the spiritual ones (salvation and baptism, the process of sanctification, Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection, the grace we have been shown and can still show, forgiveness, reconciliation), the ones we don't even think about normally (sight, hearing, taste, touch, feeling, communication, breathing), and all the rest.

    If someone doesn't believe in miracles, they aren't looking around and thinking. The nice-sounding phrase "Every baby a wanted baby" has been turned inside-out by abortion advocates to mean that if you don't want the baby, you shouldn't have the baby. God sees it differently - He does want every baby, born or unborn, and He wants them to grow up and love each other and to love Him.

    I love how God has everything planned out, how we love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). And then Galatians 3:28 says that there is no Jew nor Gentile, no slave or free, no male and female, because are all one in Christ Jesus. That pretty well solves race relations.

    God the Father is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:6). If we all believed it and lived like it, we wouldn't have to worry about celebrating days like this. I'm glad we do, because not everyone believes. I am still looking forward to that glorious day when Jesus appears, and I see Him face to face.

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