Encouragement
As far as I'm concerned, John I is the greatest passage on Jesus as the One and Only...
and He is The ONLY Reason for the Season!
~JESUS IS THE ONE AND ONLY 'LOGOS': (Greek for 'the Word'). (Verses 1-3)
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus was (and is) the last word on the subject.
"In these last days, God has spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed Heir of all things!" (Hebrews 1:1-4)
A 'word' can fill in a blank and there are a lot of blanks in our lives....
until Jesus becomes our Savior and Lord.
My prayer is that the written Word may become flesh and that you will help someone find THE answer to their blanks.
We had an electrician come do some repairs at our home yesterday. Richard (a very nice man) not only fixed our Christmas lights outside, but also fixed an outlet in our front room as well. I tho't "Here is a man who is making it possible for the Nativity Scene (Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus) outside our house to be seen as people drive by.
To make a long (good) story short (but with Eternal results) Richard prayed to receive Christ as his Savior....right there in our front hallway.
Richard referred to the experience as 'Destiny'.
When my college pastor (Dr. E.F. "Preacher" Hallock) became quite ill in his latter life and was not able to get out much, he prayed that God would send people to his home so that he might witness to them. We truly believe that God sent Richard to our home yesterday!
How we praise God for giving us the opportunity to go beyond an outward scene of CHRISTmas (our Nativity set).....to be able to witness inward, everlasting results!
After Richard left I started working on this paper and the song we used in last week's paper ("Have You any Room for Jesus?") came to my mind.
God seemed to underline my thoughts for this paper this a.m. when we rec'd this from retired missionary friends. (Del and Ramona Allen...Orby and Betty Butcher)
"As we approach the celebration of Christmas again, we are continually reminded that Santa Claus is the major name associated with this Holy day. Many of us agree that the only good thing to come out of Santa Claus is the question regarding his name at Christmas by those who have never heard the gospel.
In explaining that Santa Claus is not the real personality of Christmas, we could give many people the real Good News about Jesus, the Christ who is a living person with real power to save sinners from the guilt and judgment of sin.
During our celebration in the next three weeks, may we not only remember who the real personality of Christmas is, but take every opportunity to tell His good news to those who do not know Him yet, even in our communities in the USA.
What a wonderful and merciful God we know, who does live and love and save all those who will accept His grace."
~JESUS IS THE ONE AND ONLY LIFE...AND LIGHT: (Verses 4-9)
Plants can not live long without light, so we can not really live, without The Light. (Revelation of Jesus).
A great old song is entitled, "The Light of the World is Jesus". This song was left out of a recent hymnal, but we must be sure that we do not leave The Life and Light (Jesus) out of our lives!
Tennyson said, "Christ is to man what sunshine is to flowers."
Clement of Alexandria said, "Jesus turns all of our sunsets into sunrises."
Many have tried, but have not succeeded in putting out the Light of Jesus!
There were 400 years of spiritual darkness between the Old and the New Testaments, but how glorious it was when Jesus (the Light of the World) came!
What a difference He made...and still makes. Many have said when they are near death, they see the brightest light they have ever seen. I've always believed that it is the Light of Jesus.
It was a great day when REA brought electricity to our farm in the early 1940's. However the greatest days were when Jesus shined in our dark hearts....
and brought His salvation to each member of our family.
As you serve (perhaps in dark places) please remember:
"All darkness cannot put out one light...and yet one light can make a difference!"
Enjoy the light, but pass it on!
The late pastor Adrian Rogers said:
"Kids are afraid of the dark, but even worse are adults who are afraid of The Light."
~JESUS IS THE ONE AND ONLY PERFECT LOVE:
Note the following words in John I that describe His Love:
~Vs.16...FULLNESS:
When Jesus does something in our lives, He wants to fill us full of His love.
~Vs. 17.....TRUTH AND GRACE:
"The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
~Vs. 18 speaks of Jesus as The Only Begotten Son of God.
This is a paraphrase of John 3:16:
~For God - the greatest lover
~So Loved - the greatest degree
~The world - the greatest number
~That He gave - the greatest act
~His only Begotten Son - the greatest gift
~That whosoever - the greatest promise
~Believeth - the greatest simplicity
~In Him - the greatest attraction
~Should not perish - the greatest difference
~But have - the greatest assurance
~Everlasting life - the greatest life
~JESUS IS THE ONE AND ONLY LAMB OF GOD. (John 1:29)
John the Baptist was baptizing and saw Jesus coming and said,
"Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world."
In verse 32, John the Baptist said, "I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven, like a dove and abiding upon Him. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God."
The next day seeing Jesus, he said again, "Behold the Lamb of God".
While we were serving as missionaries in Korea, we were at a retreat on the Yellow Sea side of Korea, with many other missionaries families. I was asked to bring the message at the Sunday evening vespers which met on a knoll overlooking the Yellow Sea.
I preached on 'Jesus is the Great Shepherd and we are His sheep'.
Little did I know that a young man from Iran was on the beach below and was listening to my message.
Later a Methodist missionary shared with me that the young man had accepted Christ, saying, "I'm the lost sheep that the man was talking about and I need the Shepherd!"
That young man was baptized in the Yellow Sea and in a few days he made his way back to Iran, ending his 'around the world' journey.
That night for that young Iranian, the Logos became the Lamb and the Revelation became Redemption.
God truly works in mysterious ways to make His Will known!
I'm reminded of the little poem, 'What Can I Give Him':
'What can I give Him, poor as I am,
If I were a shepherd, I'd give a lamb.
If I were a rich man, I'd do my part....
What can I give Him? I'll give my heart'
Have you given your heart (and your whole being) to Jesus?
Remember He is The One and Only.....and.....He is The Reason for The Season!!
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I truly enjoyed this piece. It was exactly what I needed to see this morning. Yes, Our Jesus is the reason - for everything. Praise be His wonderful name! i pray you both have a very Merry CHRISTmas with all of God's blessings bestowed on you. Stay warm! In Christ's Love,
Julia