Hello everyone. Merry Christmas! Today, I want to post the last installment of my version of the Christmas story. It's the part of the story I think we are most familiar with.
When we left Joseph and Mary, they were headed to the town of Bethlehem. Now Bethlehem is basically part of Jerusalem. You might consider it a suburb because it is about 5 miles from Jerusalem. So David and Mary go there but apparently there are a whole bunch of folks in town for this census thing. Because of this, they can't find a room anywhere at any of the hotels. This is a pretty bad thing because Mary is 9 months pregnant.
In Texas, I can tell you this would have been really bad news. See they had to stay in a barn with no central heat and air. Today as I write this, it's 41 degrees Fahrenheit outside in Fort Worth. Not many women could handle being 9 months pregnant and actually giving birth to a baby in a barn under those circumstances. Now ladies, I don't mean this as a slight against you. I was in the room for the birth of all three of my children and after seeing what their mother went through, I don't know one man who could handle giving birth to a child under any circumstances! But there they were and that is where Jesus was born - in a barn. They wrapped him in a blanket and used the animal's feeding trough as a baby crib. It's pretty amazing to thing that the greatest person ever to walk the earth was born in such lowly circumstances. Do you find yourself living below where you would like? Well, take heart. Jesus started in exactly the same situation. Guess what, he came out of that situation. It didn't happen because he was the Son of God, it happened because he had faith in God and now you and I can operate in that same type of faith.
So at the instant that Jesus was born, there were these sheppards in a field keeping watch over their flocks and an angel of the Lord appeared to them. I wonder why God chose them instead of anyone else? He could have chosen the religious leaders or maybe even the government but he chose these sheppards. When the angel shows up, the glory of the Lord shone all around these guys and it freaked them out. They must have thought this was some type of alien that appeared out of no where in the sky. They were terrified. The first thing the angel said was, "Don't be afraid." He went on to say, "I bring you news that is great for everyone. Today in Bethlehem, the Savior of the world was born. He is Christ the Lord. You can find him wrapped in a blanket staying in a barn."
Suddenly there was a multitude of angels in the sky praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Then the angels left those guys and went back to heaven. Naturally these guys wanted to see Jesus so they hurried off to the barn to see Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. They found them right where the angel said that He would be.
Now it looks like after reading the bible that there was another set of dudes that showed up after some time. These other dudes had a lot of money. Think of people like Bill Gates, the guy who started Facebook, and Warren Buffett. These cats were loaded. Now they heard that Jesus was born and went looking for him to give him gifts and when they found Jesus they gave him some pretty expensive stuff.
Luke 2 and Matthew 1.
There is no good way to stop this story because the story has been going on for over 2,000 years now and it will never stop. I have heard people say that Jesus is the reason for the season. That's true but remember Jesus is the season. Everything good about Christmas is a reflection of Christ on the earth. Always remember that Jesus has a gift ready for you for Christmas this year. As a matter of fact, it is the first of many gifts that he has planned for you but you have to accept the gift. It's the gift of salvation. What does that mean? Some think it means getting your ticket punched so you can go to heaven but it is so much more than that. Salvation is the way to get born into a family. That family is alive all over the world today. Are you lonely this holiday season? Do you miss family members? Maybe you don't have a family at all and you are reading this.
If that's the case, you can become a member of my family by simply saying this prayer. "Jesus, I want to be part of your family. Please come into my heart and make me your brother or sister. I accept you as my Lord and savior." It's that simple. If you prayed that prayer for the first time, would you please let me know. If that is you, I want to be the first to tell you, welcome to the family. You are now my brother or sister. Our brother Jesus is constantly hanging out with our Dad planning good things for us. If you prayed that prayer, please try to find a good church that will teach you all about our family from our history, to the way we love each other to what our family business is all about.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Minion
When we left Joseph and Mary, they were headed to the town of Bethlehem. Now Bethlehem is basically part of Jerusalem. You might consider it a suburb because it is about 5 miles from Jerusalem. So David and Mary go there but apparently there are a whole bunch of folks in town for this census thing. Because of this, they can't find a room anywhere at any of the hotels. This is a pretty bad thing because Mary is 9 months pregnant.
In Texas, I can tell you this would have been really bad news. See they had to stay in a barn with no central heat and air. Today as I write this, it's 41 degrees Fahrenheit outside in Fort Worth. Not many women could handle being 9 months pregnant and actually giving birth to a baby in a barn under those circumstances. Now ladies, I don't mean this as a slight against you. I was in the room for the birth of all three of my children and after seeing what their mother went through, I don't know one man who could handle giving birth to a child under any circumstances! But there they were and that is where Jesus was born - in a barn. They wrapped him in a blanket and used the animal's feeding trough as a baby crib. It's pretty amazing to thing that the greatest person ever to walk the earth was born in such lowly circumstances. Do you find yourself living below where you would like? Well, take heart. Jesus started in exactly the same situation. Guess what, he came out of that situation. It didn't happen because he was the Son of God, it happened because he had faith in God and now you and I can operate in that same type of faith.
So at the instant that Jesus was born, there were these sheppards in a field keeping watch over their flocks and an angel of the Lord appeared to them. I wonder why God chose them instead of anyone else? He could have chosen the religious leaders or maybe even the government but he chose these sheppards. When the angel shows up, the glory of the Lord shone all around these guys and it freaked them out. They must have thought this was some type of alien that appeared out of no where in the sky. They were terrified. The first thing the angel said was, "Don't be afraid." He went on to say, "I bring you news that is great for everyone. Today in Bethlehem, the Savior of the world was born. He is Christ the Lord. You can find him wrapped in a blanket staying in a barn."
Suddenly there was a multitude of angels in the sky praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Then the angels left those guys and went back to heaven. Naturally these guys wanted to see Jesus so they hurried off to the barn to see Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. They found them right where the angel said that He would be.
Now it looks like after reading the bible that there was another set of dudes that showed up after some time. These other dudes had a lot of money. Think of people like Bill Gates, the guy who started Facebook, and Warren Buffett. These cats were loaded. Now they heard that Jesus was born and went looking for him to give him gifts and when they found Jesus they gave him some pretty expensive stuff.
Luke 2 and Matthew 1.
There is no good way to stop this story because the story has been going on for over 2,000 years now and it will never stop. I have heard people say that Jesus is the reason for the season. That's true but remember Jesus is the season. Everything good about Christmas is a reflection of Christ on the earth. Always remember that Jesus has a gift ready for you for Christmas this year. As a matter of fact, it is the first of many gifts that he has planned for you but you have to accept the gift. It's the gift of salvation. What does that mean? Some think it means getting your ticket punched so you can go to heaven but it is so much more than that. Salvation is the way to get born into a family. That family is alive all over the world today. Are you lonely this holiday season? Do you miss family members? Maybe you don't have a family at all and you are reading this.
If that's the case, you can become a member of my family by simply saying this prayer. "Jesus, I want to be part of your family. Please come into my heart and make me your brother or sister. I accept you as my Lord and savior." It's that simple. If you prayed that prayer for the first time, would you please let me know. If that is you, I want to be the first to tell you, welcome to the family. You are now my brother or sister. Our brother Jesus is constantly hanging out with our Dad planning good things for us. If you prayed that prayer, please try to find a good church that will teach you all about our family from our history, to the way we love each other to what our family business is all about.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Minion
Well done.
ReplyDelete