Every year businesses across the world take inventory to check what they have; they evaluate the products, goods, items etc. At the beginning of each year people tend to make resolutions, which in a sense is the way they make inventory of what they would like to do in the New Year. A new year just began; it will bring to us its challenges and struggles. Have you taken an inventory of your life? What you did and what you’d like to do?
Christmas is a time of joy and celebration for some; families get together, giving and receiving gifts. For others it’s time of stress; some experience sadness because they don’t have loved ones with them anymore. People respond to Christmas differently; some really go overboard with the celebration while others could care less that there is even a holiday called Christmas. When a news is announced people respond differently
People respond to Christmas differently; some choose to celebrate it, others don’t. For some it could be a time of celebration and family time. For others, they would love if this holiday didn’t exist. Some tend to hate this holiday because of how commercialized it has become. Regardless of the commercialization of Christmas, some try really hard to focus on the birth of Jesus. Regardless of what people do in Christmas, some people try their best to remind themselves of the time when God sent them a Savior. This is how they choose to respond to what Christmas has become these days
A young girl was planning a wedding; she was so excited, but one day she had an unexpected visitor who brought to her some disturbing news. She may need to put the wedding on hold.
Can you imagine if you have been planning something for a while, and someone shows up and says to you. You have to put your plans on hold; your plans will be delayed, there is something you have to do first. This truly would make you uncomfortable.
This young girl was Mary. God sent his angel Gabriel to deliver the news to her.
To communicate is the act or process of using words, sounds, signs or behavior to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc to someone else.
With the creation of the internet, technology, we have means of communication at our disposal by a click of a button. With all the technological advancements you would think that it would be impossible for us to miscommunicate or miss the message. But we do it all the time.
Since the beginning of time, God has been communicating with mankind. God has sent messages regarding his plan for us; his plan for the world. However, some people have tried to twist what God has said, others completely ignore it; some emphatically receive it and do what he says.
During this time people tend to worry more than usual. People have to get their Christmas shopping done. People worry about their traveling and the lines they will have to deal with at the stores and on the road. There are some people very anxious to the point of desperation as they wait to see what will happen to our country with the new president elected.
Benjamin Franklin once said: “The discontented man finds no easy chair.” There are many who struggle with contentment. Some people think that in order to be happy in life, they must accomplish something. If I get this promotion, then I will be happy; if I marry this person or that one I will truly live happily. If my political candidate wins I will be happy. In the last couple of weeks, we have been exposed to lots of unhappy people on social media; they are letting others know how displeased, discontented they are with outcome of the election.
Jesus didn’t fit the mold of religion in the society he grew up in. As a Jewish rabbi, he did things that went against the dorms of religion. This is why more often than not, we find the religious groups mad at Jesus when they saw him doing things that went against their cultural and traditional expectations. Jesus was accused of being a drunkard, a glutton, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Matt.11:19 Jesus often was invited to dine with tax collectors and he would go. The reason Jesus would hang out with sinners was because they are the ones who need grace. They are lost and need to be found. He said, I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners to repentance. Luke 5:30-32
David Clark, minister of Central Christian Church in Beloit, WI was invited to speak at Lincoln Christian University in 2007 during a conference “Leading your church to be a missional community”
David was told to share his story of how the church grew from the hundreds to the thousands. David said that people would normally come to him and asked him about his success. He said that he just broke himself before God. “Brokenness is good because only broken hearts find the heart of God.” “You know what happens when you get a heart well broken and it melts with the heart of God, you get a heart for lost people.” David Clark
David told the story of how he got broken before God, the leadership team and then the whole church and this was the reason why they were being missional in their community.
When a baby is born the mother feeds him/her milk. Milk is the main food that provides the nutrients necessary for the baby to grow. However, there will be something really wrong if all you feed the baby is milk when he is 2 years of age, 4, 6 etc. When a person becomes a Christian Scripture calls this process a new birth. Just like a new born baby, we too are given milk to drink when we are infants in the faith. The Hebrews to whom the book of Hebrews is addressed never got beyond the infant stage of their faith. This is not a unique phenomenon; here in the 21 century we have Christians who are still in the kindergarten stage of their faith and they seem to be content there; they seem not to be bothered by it. If you are 10 years of age, 15, 30, 60 and you are still in kindergarten not even the chair fits you anymore.
We talked about following Jesus as a race in which at times you truly progress; however, sometimes you feel as though you are moving backward. It’s easy to believe when things go well in your life, when you have “mountain top” experiences; when you feel closer to God; however, it is in the valley moments, those times when you are not in control that we tend to doubt God; for some it is during trials, suffering and turmoil that they question God. I think is safe to say that the majority of us at one time or another have struggled with trusting God wholeheartedly; perhaps you are truly wrestling right now with doubts and unbelief. How can you overcome these struggles?
As followers of Jesus we know that it’s a joy to be a disciple of Jesus; however, this doesn’t mean that everything will go well with us in this life. To follow Jesus is spoken of in Scripture as a race you enter in. At times you may feel very good in how you run and progress in your walk; but at times it turns out to be very difficult and the temptation to quit or give up will always be there. Perhaps you know people who stopped running their race; they stopped following Jesus because it got too difficult. Where do you find the motivation, to continue running your race for God? When do you get encouragement and strength to run? The author of Hebrews wrote to Christians who were going through lots of trials and persecution; their being Christians cost them their very lives. He encouraged them to keep themselves focused on running their race. He exhorted them to persevere.
