Tag: His Son Jesus
Reflections of the Christ
John: 15:13: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
While a man was polishing his new car, his 4 yr old son picked up a stone and scratched lines on the side of the car. In anger, the man took the child’s hand and hit it many times; not realizing he was using a wrench. At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures. When the child saw his father…..with painful eyes he asked,
‘Dad when will my fingers grow back?’ The man was so hurt and
Speechless; he went back to his car and kicked it a lot of times. Devastated by his own actions……sitting in front of that car he looked at the scratches; the child had written ‘LOVE YOU DAD’.
The next day that man committed suicide. . . Anger and Love have no limits; choose the latter to have a beautiful, lovely life….. Things are to be used and people are to be loved, but the problem in today’s world is that, People are used and things are loved..
During this year, let’s be careful to keep this thought in mind: Things are to be used, but People are to be loved … Be yourself….This is the only day we HAVE. Have a nice day
Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits they become character; Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Let us Pray!
What is the most importance thing in your life? To many it is there Silver and Gold and the things they have in Life. I use to work at a Shipyard many years ago and sometimes we had work to do on some very expensive yachts. Some of them worth many millions of dollars and right as you go in they would have a sign hanging over head saying He Who Dies with the most Toys Wins. One time I had the opportunity to ask the man who own Sandals in Lost Vegas about his sign. I ask him how much is enough, he replied back till I have it all.
Till I have it all; what does the Bible teach about material things Matthew:16:26: For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Growing up I had to work everyday, I would go to school and right after school I would have to go to where my Dad worked to help him. He was a retired seaman and worked in a store selling discounted lube Oil back in New Orleans. One day my Mom and Dad got into an argument and ended up devoicing. Mom did all she could to teach us about God but Dad always thought that Christians were nothing but weak minded people. Dad moved back to the Islands in Honduras and Mom did all she could to keep the family together. But I was an angry young boy just about 14 years old when they separated and had no direction in life. About 6 months after my Dad left I was getting into all kinds of trouble on the streets of New Orleans and one day I decided to run away. So I planned very carefully and on Christmas Eve 1969 I packed my bags and got onto an airplane and left the USA for Utila one of the HondurasBayIslands.
Here I lived for the next 5 year and here it was that I learned why my Mother could no longer take living with my Dad. I loved him but he did not know how to give back love, his life was void of affection and full of hate. With the help of my older brother who was from my dad’s first wife and lived on the Island I made it until I was old enough to come back to the US and work.
Before I meet my Wife, my hold life was a life of nothing but living for the next day. At the age of 17 I started working in the Oil fields and moved to VeniceLouisiana. My cousin & I who was more like a brother lived doing nothing but drinking and smoking dope and anything else we could get our hands on. But I always had an empty feeling in my life and tried to fill that void with what everything I could. I got married just after I turned 18 to a very wonderful young Lady who was 21 at the time. She said that way she could finish raising me, boy she did not know what she was getting into. But guess what I did not know what I was getting either, but God knew, He planned it this way because of a pray I would pray. Asking Him Lord please bring a woman into my life that will make me a good wife and love me for what I am. I was not even a Christian then but God heard my prayers and answered them with a beautiful young Island girl who did not know the first thing about cooking.
A few years after we were married we had our first Child, a beautiful little girl who had my heart. I did not want for her to have a life like I had, so I decided I will make a change. I want in her little eye’s to see me as a loving father, but I did not know what a loving father was because I did not have one as a pattern. But I did remember my mother reading from the Bible about a Father God, so I started to studding about Him. The more I read about Him the more I started to change my life. I gave up drinking, smoking, dope and even started to change my vocabulary to words of a pleasant nature. I wanted to be to them what I never had a father who Loved me; I wanted them to see in me the Reflection of Jesus.
I wanted my Children to see the God I meet in me!
What are we showing others around us, do they see Christ in you or a Devil.
The Bible is a book of love it is a love letter from the God who has created this world. But something went wrong the man God created in his image rebelled because he believed a lie told to him in the garden. From the beginning we are told that everything God did was perfect in the Book of beginning called Genesis on the very first chapter 1: we have the story of God’s creation of His love.
24: And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25: And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30: And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good
But the question, with giving Man so much freedom and giving him dominion over the whole world; would he remain faithful to his creator. So God planted in the middle of the garden a tree just one tree as a simple test to see if man who He created in his own image would love him. Genesis 2: 9: And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2: 15: And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
God told the Man and Woman who He created that everything was there, but that there was one restriction they were never to eat of this one tree. Why because God loved His creation and God knew that if man would eat of this one tree it would open his life to a life of sin and rebellion and life of pain, suffering, sickness, and death.
There was nothing different about this tree; it was just another tree in the garden that God created. But what it was was a test of obeying God word, God said not to eat of it and live or eat of it and die. It was a simple test that God took one tree and said don’t eat of it.
It had to be this way, why because God did not create the Man and Woman to serve His from force, God wanted man to serve Him out of love; the same love that God had in the beginning the same love that God has for all of us today. For freedom to be free it must be willing to let go, willing to take a chance, willing to show love in the hope of receiving love back again. The freedom of choice comes with a price and we all have been giving that freedom and we must choose whether we will serve God or man.
God knew that man might sin but that did not stop His love for man, God knew that if man sinned he would have to die, Why because one of Gods Laws were broken, But God had a plan.
Now sin has marred God’s perfect work, yet the handwriting remains. Even now all created things declare the glory of His excellence. There is nothing except the selfish heart of man that lives unto it self. No bird that cleaves the air, no animal that moves upon the ground, but ministers to some other life. There is no leaf of the forest, or lowly blade of grass, but has its ministry. Every tree and shrub and leaf pours forth that element of life without which neither man nor animal could live; and man and animal, in turn, minister to the life of tree and shrub and leaf. The flowers breathe fragrance and unfold their beauty in blessing to the world.
The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of “the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal.” Rom. 16:25: Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God’s throne. From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate. God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency. So great was His love for the world, that He covenanted to give His only-begotten Son, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Lucifer had said, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; . . . I will be like the Most High.” Isa. 14:13, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
But Christ, “being in the form of God, counted it not a thing to be grasped to be equality with God, but emptied Him self, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. There is no other love greater then the love that God has toward man, we have sinned we have broken our relationship with our creator we have turned our back on Him but even then He did not stop loving us. He came to save the world and the world knew Him not; He came to his own people and His own people did not except Him; but hung Him on a Cross. Why because of God’s great Love, God has never stopped loving mankind.
When man sinned by eating of the Tree that God warned him not to eat there was a Law broken and that Law said in Ezek:18:20: The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The King of glory stooped low to take humanity. Rude and forbidding were His earthly surroundings. His glory was veiled, that the majesty of His outward form might not become an object of attraction. He shunned all outward display. Riches, worldly honor, and human greatness can never save a soul from death; Jesus purposed that no attraction of an earthly nature should call men to His side. Only the beauty of heavenly truth must draw those who would follow Him. The character of the Messiah had long been foretold in prophecy, and He desired men to accept Him upon the testimony of the word of God.
With amazement the heavenly messengers beheld the indifference of the people whom God had called to communicate to the world the light of sacred truth. The Jewish nation had been preserved as a witness that Christ was to be born of the seed of Abraham and of David’s line; yet they knew not that His coming was now at hand. In the temple the morning and the evening sacrifice daily pointed to the Lamb of God; yet even here was no preparation to receive Him. The priests and teachers of the nation knew not that the greatest event of the ages was about to take place. They rehearsed their meaningless prayers, and performed the rites of worship to be seen by men, but in their strife for riches and worldly honor they were not prepared for the revelation of the Messiah. The same indifference pervaded in our world today. Hearts selfish and world-engrossed were untouched by the joy that thrilled all heaven.
In Psalms 23: we read these words
1: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2: He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3: He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
“I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” “I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep.”
Again Jesus found access to the minds of His hearers by the pathway of their familiar associations. He had likened the Spirit’s influence to the cool, refreshing water. He had represented Himself as the light, the source of life and gladness to nature and to man. Now in a beautiful pastoral picture He represents His relation to those that believe on Him. No picture was more familiar to His hearers than this, and Christ’s words linked it forever with Himself. Never could the disciples look on the shepherds tending their flocks without recalling the Saviour’s lesson. They would see Christ in each faithful shepherd. They would see themselves in each helpless and dependent flock.
This figure the prophet Isaiah had applied to the Messiah’s mission, in the comforting words, “O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! . . . He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom.” Isa. 40:11. David had sung, “The Lord is my shepherd; He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young
And the Holy Spirit through Ezekiel had declared: “I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them.” “I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.” “And I will make with them a covenant of peace.” “And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen; . . . but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.” Ezek. 34:23, 16, 25, 28
Christ applied these prophecies to Himself, and He showed the contrast between His own character and that of the leaders in Israel. The Pharisees had just driven one from the fold, because he dared to bear witness to the power of Christ. They had cut off a soul whom the True Shepherd was drawing to Himself. In this they had shown themselves ignorant of the work committed to them, and unworthy of their trust as shepherds of the flock. Jesus now set before them the contrast between them and the Good Shepherd, and He pointed to Himself as the real keeper of the Lord’s flock.
We are the sheep of His pasture and God has called us to attend His flock and to lead them by His example. We are to do this by doing the things that He did and speaking the words that He spoke.
John:10:14: I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
The life of every Father on earth is to be the leaded the priest of his family, we are to show our children the reflection of Christ living in us. We are to be to our Wife, family and others living around us a reflection of the good shepherd. We must follow His example we must study and read everyday and apply to our life the things we learn about being a true shepherd so that when the world sees us they see only the reflection of the Christ living in us.
Jesus gave us two great commandments to live by
Mark 12
29: And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
This commandment takes in the first 4 of the Ten Commandments, Mans duty to his creator
31: And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
This Commandment takes in the last 6 of the Ten Commandments Mans duty to his brother.
What a letter of love that God has giving to man that we might know the love of the Father through His Son Jesus.
I can only pray that my wife, my children and my grandchildren see only the reflection of the Christ living in me. Salvation is a free gift to all who by faith will except it, but it was not free to God’s Son Jesus he paid the price for our sins by His death. What a beautiful story about Love, how can anyone reject pure love so freely giving is a mystery to the heavenly host.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Friend I hope and pray that you find in Jesus the love that God has giving for this world salvation. John: 15:13: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. That is just what Jesus did, he dies to give you life, He took your sins upon Himself because He loved you with a Godly love.
There are many people that we meet each day in our world and you can always tell the ones that live with Jesus in there hearts. Just look for the reflection of His life in them.
God Bless and may your life also be a reflection of Christ living inside of you.
Elder Tim McNab
The Gift
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
CHRISTMAS STORY: Pa never had much compassion for the lazy or those who squandered their means and then never had enough for the necessities. But for those who were genuinely in need, his heart was as big as all outdoors. It was from him that I learned the greatest joy in life comes from giving, not from receiving.
It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn’t been enough money to buy me the rifle that I’d wanted so bad that year for Christmas.
We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Pa wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible. So after supper was over I took my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Pa to get down the old Bible. I was still feeling sorry for myself and, to be honest, I wasn’t in much of a mood to read scriptures.
But Pa didn’t get the Bible; instead he bundled up and went outside. I couldn’t figure it out because we had already done all the chores. I didn’t worry about it long though; I was too busy wallowing in self-pity.
Soon Pa came back in. It was a cold clear night out and there was ice in his beard. “Come on, Matt,” he said. “Bundle up good, it’s cold out tonight.” I was really upset then. Not only wasn’t I getting the rifle for Christmas, now Pa was dragging me out in the cold, and for no earthly reason that I could see.
We’d already done all the chores, and I couldn’t think of anything else that needed doing, especially not on a night like this. But I knew Pa was not very patient at one dragging one’s feet when he’d told them to do something, so I got up and put my boots back on and got my cap, coat, and mittens. Ma gave me a mysterious smile as I opened the door to leave the house. Something was up, but I didn’t know what.
Outside, I became even more dismayed. There in front of the house was the work team, already hitched to the big sled. Whatever it was we were going to do wasn’t going to be a short, quick, little job. I could tell. We never hitched up the big sled unless we were going to haul a big load.
Pa was already up on the seat, reins in hand. I reluctantly climbed up beside him. The cold was already biting at me. I wasn’t happy. When I was on, Pa pulled the sled around the house and stopped in front of the woodshed. He got off and I followed. “I think we’ll put on the high sideboards,” he said. “Here, help me.” The high sideboards! It had been a bigger job than I wanted to do with just the low sideboards on, but whatever it was we were going to do would be a lot bigger with the high sideboards on.
When we had exchanged the sideboards Pa went into the woodshed and came out with an armload of wood—the wood I’d spent all summer hauling down from the mountain, and then all fall sawing into blocks and splitting. What was he doing? Finally I said something. “Pa,” I asked, “what are you doing?” ”
You been by the Widow Jensen’s lately?” he asked. The Widow Jensen lived about two miles down the road. Her husband had died a year or so before and left her with three children, the oldest being eight.
Sure, I’d been by, but so what? “Yeah,” I said, “why?”
“I rode by just today,” Pa said. “Little Jakey was out digging around in the woodpile trying to find a few chips. They’re out of wood, Matt.” That was all he said and then he turned and went back into the woodshed for another armload of wood. I followed him.
We loaded the sled so high that I began to wonder if the horses would be able to pull it. Finally, Pa called a halt to our loading, then we went to the smoke house and Pa took down a hold side of a Deer and a fewTurkeys. He handed them to me and told me to put them in the sled and wait. When he returned he was carrying a sack of flour over his right shoulder and a smaller sack of something in his left hand.
“What’s in the little sack?” I asked.
“Shoes. They’re out of shoes. Little Jakey just had gunny sacks wrapped around his feet when he was out in the wood-pile this morning.
I got the children a little candy too. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without a little candy.”
We rode the two miles to Widow Jensen’s pretty much in silence. I tried to think through what Pa was doing. We didn’t have much by worldly standards. Of course, we did have a big woodpile, though most of what was left now was still in the form of logs that I would have to cut.
So why was Pa buying them shoes and candy? Really, why was he doing any of this? Widow Jensen had closer neighbors than us. It shouldn’t have been our concern.
We came in from the blind side of the Jensen house and unloaded the wood as quietly as possible, then we took the meat and flour and shoes to the door.
We knocked. The door opened a crack and a timid voice said, “Who is it?”
“Lucas Miles, Ma’am, and my son, Matt. Could we come in for a bit?”
Widow Jensen opened the door and let us in. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The children were wrapped in another and were sitting in front of the fireplace by a very small fire that hardly gave off any heat at all.
Widow Jensen fumbled with a match and finally lit the lamp. “We brought you a few things, Ma’am,” Pa said and set down the sack of flour. I put the meat on the table. Then Pa handed her the sack that had the shoes in it. She opened it hesitantly and took the shoes out on e pair at a time. There was a pair for her and one for each of the children—sturdy shoes, the best, shoes that would last.
I watched her carefully. She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling and then tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She looked up at Pa like she wanted to say something, but it wouldn’t come out.
“We brought a load of wood too, Ma’am,” Pa said, then he turned to me and said, “Matt, go bring enough in to last for awhile. Let’s get that fire up to size and heat this place up.”
I wasn’t the same person when I went back out to bring in the wood. I had a big lump in my throat and, much as I hate to admit it, there were tears in my eyes too.
In my mind I kept seeing those three kids huddled around the fireplace and their mother standing there with tears running down her cheeks and so much gratitude in her heart that she couldn’t speak. My heart swelled within me and a joy filled my soul that I’d never known before. I had given at Christmas many times before, but never when it had made so much difference.
I could see we were literally saving the lives of these people. I soon had the fire blazing and everyone’s spirits soared. The kids started giggling when Pa handed them each a piece of candy and Widow Jensen looked on with a smile that probably hadn’t crossed her face for a long time. She finally turned to us. “God bless you,” she said. “I know the Lord himself has sent you. The children and I have been praying that he would send one of his angels to spare us.”
In spite of myself, the lump returned to my throat and the tears welled up in my eyes again. I’d never thought of Pa in those exact terms before, but after Widow Jensen mentioned it I could see that it was probably true. I was sure that a better man than Pa had never walked the earth. I started remembering all the times he had gone out of his way for Ma and me, and many others. The list seemed endless as I thought on it.
Pa insisted that everyone try on the shoes before we left. I was amazed when they all fit and I wondered how he had known what sizes to get. Then I guessed that if he was on an errand for the Lord that the Lord would make sure he got the right sizes.
Tears were running down Widow Jensen’s face again when we stood up to leave. Pa took each of the kids in his big arms and gave them a hug. They clung to him and didn’t want us to go. I could see that they missed their pa, and I was glad that I still had mine.
At the door Pa turned to Widow Jensen and said, “The Mrs. wanted me to invite you and the children over for Christmas dinner tomorrow. The turkey will be more than the three of us can eat, and a man can get cantankerous if he has to eat turkey for too many meals. We’ll be by to get you about eleven. It’ll be nice to have some little ones around again.
Brother Miles. I don’t have to say, “‘May the Lord bless you,’ I know for certain that He will.”
Out on the sled I felt a warmth that came from deep within and I didn’t even notice the cold. When we had gone a ways, Pa turned to me and said, “Matt, I want you to know something. Your ma and me have been tucking a little money away here and there all year so we could buy that rifle for you, but we didn’t have quite enough. Then yesterday a man who owed me a little money from years back came by to make things square. Your ma and me were real excited, thinking that now we could get you that rifle, and I started into town this morning to do just that. But on the way I saw little Jakey out scratching in the woodpile with his feet wrapped in those gunny sacks and I knew what I had to do. So, Son, I spent the money for shoes and a little candy for those children. I hope you understand.”
I understood, and my eyes became wet with tears again. I understood very well, and I was so glad Pa had done it. Just then the rifle seemed very low on my list of priorities. Pa had given me a lot more. He had given me the look on Widow Jensen’s face and the radiant smiles of her three children.
For the rest of my life, whenever I saw any of the Jensens, or split a block of wood, I remembered, and remembering brought back that same joy I felt riding home beside Pa that night. Pa had given me much more than a rifle that night, he had given me the best Christmas of my life. Count your blessings everyday, slowly and thoughtfully.
Let us Pray!
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When I was a kid, we enjoyed the Christmas time because it was wend we got everything we wore out that year.
So for the Christmas we got a pair of new; or sometime not so new hand me down shoes. We got new clothing and sometimes that too belonged to your older brother or sister the year before.
And last but not lease we got a Toy, oh yes a toy. Christmas was also a time of year we could eat as much as we wanted.
Why because Mom always cooked the biggest Turkey she could find, but the problem was we just got finished eating turkey sandwiches from Thanksgiving and now you got another month of eating it again.
Somehow Mom made Turkey in so many ways it was always good to the last bite.
Mostly Christmas was a time of family coming together, sometime aunts and uncles who you did not know you had would come and visit and they always gave you a piece of money.
I can remember one Christmas more then any; it was the one we had nothing.
My Dad had a farm in Florida where we were living at that time and he had gone back to work on the Ships. So it was just my Mother and oldest step brother with all of us 6 kids left on the farm to keep it going till Dad came back home.
Sometimes he would go for 6 months some times up to a year we would not see him so money was hard to come-by at times. There was enough just no extra money for anything that year;
Mom had to make due with what she had. But you know somehow that was the best Christmas we had because I can still remember it and none of the others.
About two days before Christmas my oldest brother went out and cut down a pine tree that we set-up in the house. Then he had a bag full of pine cones, we ask what are then for, he said to have fun with and he got out some old paint. So that is what we did painted pine cones any colour we wanted and when they were dried we hung them on the tree.
Mom as normal got my brother to kill the biggest turkey we had on the farm and my brother managed to sell a few others to the city people who came looking. So there was plenty to eat and the extra money from selling Turkeys sue came in handy that year. That was always like Mom pulling a rabbit out of the hat again and we all got a Toy.
Christmas is a wonderful time of year. It is a time of giving, a time that we can visit family and friend that we might not have seen all year long. It is a time of getting back together and just remembering the past as we look forward to the future.
As in our Story many times our parents sacrificed and did with out in order to give to there Children things that they needed not things that they wanted.
God gives us things we need, things like forgiveness and eternal life.
- John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
When we choose to disobey God, when we turned our back and walked away from his love? When we rejected him and all his goodness, He still does not gave up on loving us.
When we sin and chose to die in our blindness and stupidly, God sent His Son his only Son to die in our place so that he could give us life once again.
For God so loved the world,
That little Verse of Scripture says a lot. In the days of Creation we are told that after God had finish his act of creation he looked out and saw everything he had make
In the book of Genesis 1: 31: we are told, God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
God did not just through us into a dead old world; every thing that came from the Master hand came with the best intensions.
God gave of the best that heaven could give in the creation of Mankind, in that we were created in the image of God. What an honour God places on Man to be made in the likens of his Creator
The Scripture goes on to say that he also gave his only begotten Son,
Not only did God love us but he had also planned ahead that in the event man would prove to be unfaithful, there would be hope for him.
Just how would this come about; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam.
It was a revelation of “the mystery which hath been kept in silence through eternality.” Rom. 16:25, R. V.
It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God’s throne.
From the beginning, God the Father and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate.
God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency head on.
So great was His love for this world, that He covenanted to give His only-begotten Son, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love.
For love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or by authority.
Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him; His character must be manifested in contrast to the character of Satan.
This work only one Being in all the universe could do. Only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it known.
Upon the world’s dark night the Sun of Righteousness must rise, “with healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2). {RC 23.3}
17: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
To all who have accepted Christ as a personal Savoir, the Holy Spirit has come as a counsellor, sanctifier, guide, and a witness.
The more closely believers have walked with God, the more clearly and powerfully have they testified of their Redeemer’s love and of His saving grace.
Romans 8:
39: Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the beginning, God was revealed in all the works of his creation. It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth. It was His hand that hung the worlds in space, and fashioned the flowers of the field.
“His strength settled fast the mountains.” “The sea is His, and He made it.” Ps. 65:6; 95:5. It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song.
And upon all things in earth, air, and sky, He wrote the message of his Father’s love for Mankind.
So I ask you this Christmas before you open the first present. Take time and thank God for all the gifts he has giving you.
Take time to thank Jesus for taking your place on the cross and dyeing in your place in order to give you the gift of eternal life.
We did not have all the things that Kids have today, but the little we had we knew and understood the price of what it cost. And that was the sacrifice of our parents
Instead of toys this year just give to your Children something more, give them a box of Love and let them see in you the Gift of Gods forever Love.
There is an old song I remember that went something like this; Iam getting nothing for Christmas Mom and Dad are made, Iam getting nothing for Christmas cause I ant been nothing but bad.
Truth is we were all bad, but God loved us so much he gave us the greatest Gift Heaven could give. His Son Jesus
God Bless and have a very marry Christmas
Elder Tim McNab
D5 Creation
