Tag: The Gospel

Songs of the Season: Luke 2:7

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”Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.“ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Jesus’ birth changed history. No other birth has been of similar significance as His. It’s not even close. We literally changed how we number our years because He was born. Modern scholars try to cover up that fact by using BCE and CE instead the traditional BC and AD, by the numbers don’t change which means the event of Jesus’ birth is still the lynchpin on which everything hinges. How could a song properly capture such an ordeal in words? It couldn’t. But I heard one recently that comes pretty close. Let’s celebrate today that Jesus is alive with one last song of the season.

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The Gifts of Advent: John 3:16

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“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (CSB – Read the chapter)‬‬

When the apostle Paul was trying to capture the overwhelming significance of the spiritual gift of love and its foundational importance for the other gifts Jesus gives His church for its proper health and functioning, He penned these famous words: ”Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love.“ Love is indeed the greatest, and as we celebrate one last gift of Advent together today, love is appropriately where we land.

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He Gets It

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Jesus came to fix what’s broken. He came to fix it in our world and in our lives. Yet how do we really know that He can do this? What kind of experience does He have with brokenness that would empower Him to know how to meet us in our need? As it turns out, He has a whole lot more experience than you might expect. Let’s talk about what this is and why it matters in the next part of our Advent series, Broken to Mended.

He Gets It

You’ve perhaps heard the old adage that someone doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. The idea, of course, is that until you have established some sort of a relational credibility with another person, trying to teach them anything of much significance probably isn’t going to work very well. I think there’s even more to this old adage than that, though. You see, given where our culture is today, people generally don’t merely want you to care about them. They want to know that you are authentic in your caring. They want to know that you can in some way empathize with their situation. Otherwise, you are just coming in as a white knight whom they aren’t going to trust. No, if you want to really be able to help someone today in a way that is impactful and sustainable, they’ve got to know you understand their situation in a meaningful way. Until you have that, they might deign to use you, but you won’t be doing anything of lasting significance for them. Once you can demonstrate your authenticity, though, you’re in. 

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Why He Came

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We are now officially into the season of Advent. For the next few weeks, we are going to be working through a new teaching series looking at just why Jesus came to Earth and what that means for us. In this first part, we’ll answer the question and reflect together on the glorious nature of this powerful truth. Here’s a sneak preview: the reason Jesus came is you. Let’s talk about it.

Why He Came

I want you to think for a second about a time when you heard a dramatic conversion story. Those can be really powerful. I once knew a chainsaw artist who specialized in making eagle’s nests. He carved some pieces for a prayer garden one of the Boy Scouts at our former church made as his Eagle Scout project. They were pretty amazing. In talking to him a few times, I learned that he had never done any art of any kind, let alone chainsaw art, before he became a follower of Jesus. He was mostly just interested in doing drugs. Almost as soon as he accepted Jesus, though, he felt a calling to art, and had been making it ever since. Maybe you’ve seen the movie, The Jesus Revolution. It tells the story of the rise of Chuck Smith who would go on to pastor the Crystal Cathedral church in Orange County, CA. The movie also features the conversion story of Greg Laurie, the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, and a prominent speaker and author. Like my chainsaw artist friend, Greg was into all kinds of drugs before becoming a follower of Jesus. The experience that pushed him over the edge in the direction of the Gospel was when he was driving down the road with some buddies who were all high on LSD, and they saw a glowing vision of heaven in the distance on the side of the road. It wound up being a sign for a funeral home. The experience literally scared him back to the straight and narrow path from the broad path leading to destruction he had been sliding down. Do you know who else had a pretty dramatic conversion? The apostle Paul. And his story is one that I’d like to give a bit of our attention this morning. 

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Morning Musing: Romans 5:8

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“But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
(CSB – Read the chapter)

I occasionally get things wrong. Okay, let’s be more honest than that. Occasionally I blow it. Okay, fine, scratch that “occasionally.” I screw up a lot. Sometimes this happens in ways that are small and insignificant. Others are big and bold. Some of these are public where anyone can see them. A whole lot more are things known only to my heart and mind and borne by my soul alone. No matter what form or fashion these happen to take, though, one thing is consistent throughout: God’s love never changes or wavers. Today, I am grateful for this unbelievable truth.

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