B
BJGrolle
Guest
I hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas weekend! Stay warm and safe! :x-mas:
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Desire to be a vessel of honor unto the Lord Jesus Christ?
Join For His Glory for a discussion on how
https://christianforums.net/threads/a-vessel-of-honor.110278/
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Taking the time to pray? Christ is the answer in times of need
https://christianforums.net/threads/psalm-70-1-save-me-o-god-lord-help-me-now.108509/
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Depending upon the Holy Spirit for all you do?
Read through the following study by Tenchi for more on this topic
https://christianforums.net/threads/without-the-holy-spirit-we-can-do-nothing.109419/
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How are famous preachers sometimes effected by sin?
Join Sola Scriptura for a discussion on the subject
https://christianforums.net/threads/anointed-preaching-teaching.109331/#post-1912042
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B
bibleberean
Guest
BJGrolle said:
Merry Christmas and have a blessed New Year. :D
L
living4onlyJC
Guest
Thx
Merry CHRISTmas to you too!!
Merry CHRISTmas to you too!!
K
Khristeeanos
Guest
Merry Christmas to all of you as well. 
tim-from-pa
Member
Merry Christmas to all, too, from Eastern Pa just South of Easton.
Weather forecast: EASTON, Pa: TEMPS: 34° / 12° WINDS: WNW 12-22 mph. Partly sunny, windy and chilly
Don't look like a white one this year if anyone's coming around these parts.
Weather forecast: EASTON, Pa: TEMPS: 34° / 12° WINDS: WNW 12-22 mph. Partly sunny, windy and chilly
Don't look like a white one this year if anyone's coming around these parts.
S
Skipdawg
Guest
Merry Christmas. May you all have a very enjoyable, happy and safe weekend. :wink:
S
Solo
Guest
Merry Christmas from beautiful Fort Worth, Texas.
It is currently 62° Fair/Windy and forecast for 65° and sunny for Christmas Day.
Sorry boys and girls, no snow this year either!!
May each one here have a great New Year (resolutions and all)!
It is currently 62° Fair/Windy and forecast for 65° and sunny for Christmas Day.
Sorry boys and girls, no snow this year either!!
May each one here have a great New Year (resolutions and all)!
A
Asaph
Guest
May the Lord God of all creation richly bless you all with His Love and Presence on this day, and always. Merry Christmas everybody.
Asaph
Asaph
G
Gary
Guest
On this wonderful day.... remembering the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
May you be filled with the peace and joy which is beyond understanding and may you and your loved ones be blessed.
Gary
xxx
May you be filled with the peace and joy which is beyond understanding and may you and your loved ones be blessed.
Gary
xxx
S
SputnikBoy
Guest
Merry Christmas from Down Under. We're already into Christmas morning here (time approx. 10:45am) and it's shaping up to be a hot and sticky North Queensland tropical day. If there's one time of the year that I miss the states, it's Christmas. Christmas day in the sweltering heat is just not ...well, it's just not scriptural ...! :smt037
S
Servant_2000
Guest
Matthew 1:18-25
The greatest gift ever given to man was the birth of Jesus
Christ. His birth has been part of world history. Every year we celebrate
His birthday with the giving of gifts, singing, sharing and spreading
cheer wherever we go.
But I want make you think about some great spiritual truths in relation
to His birth. I want to make you think by us thinking along these lines--
JUST SUPPOSE. Suppose this world into which Jesus had not come.
A minister fell asleep in his study on Christmas morn. In his dream he
found himself looking through his home, but no little stockings hung by
the chimney. Neither Christmas wreaths nor holly decorated the house. He
walked out on the street, but nowhere could he see a church with its
spire pointing to heaven. Returning to his library, he wanted to read a
book on the Christian faith, but every book about Jesus had disappeared.
His doorbell rang. A messenger asked him to visit a dying woman. He
hurried to her home. Sitting down beside the lady he said, "I have
something here that will comfort you." He opened his Bible to look for a
familiar New Testament verse, but the Bible ended at Malachi. He could
only bow his head and weep with her in bitter despair. Two days later he
stood beside this woman’s coffin to conduct the funeral service. But
there was no message of consolation. As the service concluded by the
grave, there was no word of glorious resurrection, no open heaven, but
only "ashes to ashes, dust to dust," and one long farewell. Realizing
that Jesus had not come, the minister in his dream burst into sobbing.
Suddenly he woke with a start. He heard the choir rehearsing in his
church next door. A shout of praise poured from his lips as he listened
to the message of the carol "O Come, All Ye Faithful." This dream was
really a nightmare. In fact, all of life would be just a nightmare had
Jesus not come with His light and love. JUST SUPPOSE!
Had Jesus not come, there would have been no Sistine Chapel, no Red
Cross, no Salvation Army. Not one Ivy League school, not Princeton,
Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, or Penn would exist, had the
Father not sent His Son Jesus to our planet. JUST SUPPOSE!
The local hospitals, where some of you were born, some of you were
operated on, and where some of you work would not provide their services.
JUST SUPPOSE!
The pilgrims would not have sailed on the Mayflower and America would not
have been founded had not Jesus come into the world. JUST SUPPOSE!
That building would not be standing. This lighthouse and soul-saving
station would not be here. You and I would never have met if the angels
never sang to welcome His birth. JUST SUPPOSE!
Not one of the billions of sins committed everyday could be washed away
had Jesus not drawn a breath of Bethlehem’s air. JUST SUPPOSE!
No mansions would await us in Heaven’s fair land if shepherds hadn’t
attended the manger out back of the Inn in Galilee. JUST SUPPOSE!
No intercession would take place on our behalf if Gabriel hadn’t visited
Mary. If Joseph had not obeyed to take Mary unto himself, had they had
not walked seventy some miles, nine months pregnant, across some rough
terrain, in a very taxing situation to bring Jesus into the world. JUST
SUPPOSE!
Not one Christmas card bearing tidings of hope, peace, goodwill or joy
would arrive in your mailbox. No presents would await you under your tree
had not we received God’s love gift of His Son. JUST SUPPOSE!
Suppose Mary did not want this child. It would bring reproach upon her
because it would seem that she was having a child out of wedlock. Now in
our modern society, it seems that this is not so bad, but for Mary to do
so, she would be violating God’s law. Even though Mary had never known a
man and continued in this way until Jesus’ birth, she would have been
tainted with this for the rest of her life. Suppose a wicked abortionist
or a member of Planned Parenthood had been Mary’s best friend. JUST
SUPPOSE!
Suppose Joseph did not want to marry this girl because she was carrying a
child that was not his. He would have been within his Biblical rights to
refuse to marry her. Or he could have taken her before the elders and had
her stoned. JUST SUPPOSE!
Suppose they decided that Caesar’s taxation was wrong and had rebelled
ant stayed at home instead of going to Bethlehem to be numbered. JUST
SUPPOSE!
Suppose that they decided that they had to stay in Bethlehem in spite of
the angel’s warning to leave because wicked King Herod was on the way to
kill all the children under two years of age. JUST SUPPOSE Joseph passed
off the dream as his eating the wrong things before going to bed. He
might have thought he was having a nightmare. JUST SUPPOSE!
Well, we know that the Joseph and Mary did the right thing. Because of
their obedience, we have the safe delivery of the Lord Jesus in the right
city at the right time. Today I want to show your four reasons why I know
Joseph and Mary did what they did and why events turned out as they did.
I. THEY DEDICATED THEMSELVES TO HIS SERVICE.
Luke 1:34-38
"Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a
man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son
in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called
barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold
the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the
angel departed from her."
They were dedicated themselves voluntarily.
Leviticus 1:3
"If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male
without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD."
Joshua 24:15
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom
ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on
the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land
ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
They realized that they were the Lord’s by the virtue of creation but
they belonged to the Lord by the act of surrendering their lives to the
Lord. They were willing to suffer the shame of seeming to have
illegitimate child. In our society this is not frowned upon as it was in
that day. But Mary and Joseph knew that they would be the topic of many
of the gossiper’s words and conversations. They may have been shunned.
But they were willing to suffer this. This is similar what Paul was
trying to tell the Corinthian believers.
Their dedication was without blemish.
Leviticus 1:3
"If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male
without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD."
Dedication to God’s service should never be for fleshly motives. Fleshly
motives could be for the money that this may have. It may be for the
position of life. I am sure that Mary would have wanted folks to know
that she was pregnant with the Messiah that God had promised. This is one
reason why it is wrong to completely focus mainly focus on Mary. She was
born a sinner. If she had not made Jesus Christ her Saviour, she would
have died as a sinner and gone to hell. This can be proved from verses
from the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes 7:20
"For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth
not."
Isaiah 53:6
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Mary worship like many churches do is nothing less than idolatry. The
Catholic Church has practiced this for years. The Lord Jesus is the only
one in which we are to pray.
John 14:13-14
"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will
do it."
He is our only mediator. 1st Timothy 2:5
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus"
Accepting service for the Lord is really the road of "don’t want to
return". Why turn from following the Lord Jesus? I did one time in my
life and regret those wasted years. I will have nothing to place at the
feet of Jesus for those years.
II. THEY DESIRED TO BE HOLY 1 Peter 1:15-16
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."
2nd Timothy 2:21-22
"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto
honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto
every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness,
faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure
heart."
Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter comments on Biblical holiness. "No subject which
ever engages the thought of Christian believers can be more sacredly
commanding than that of our personal holiness, by which I mean an
inwrought holiness of heart and life. Beyond contradiction, this is our
‘priority-number-one’ concern. Admittedly, one would not infer so from
the general appearance of things just now, but it is so, if the New
Testament is true."
"Although this deeper work of the Holy Spirit in the consecrated believer
seems little expounded in the average church today, with the unhappy
consequence that comparatively few Christians seem to know much about it
in experience, it still remains true that this call to holiness is the
first call of the New Testament to all Christians. For the moment, let
just one text of Scripture represent the many to us: Ephesians 1:4,
staggering in its mystery and immensity: "He [God] hath chosen us in Him
[Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love."
Holiness is more than a look or attitude. It has to be a desire to follow
the Lord in every area of our lives and be holy because it will please
God. Mary and Joseph would have desired this because the Lord allowed the
Lord Jesus to be born in this home. They did all that the Law required.
When Jesus was eight days old, they circumcised Him.
It ought to be our desire to be as holy as we know that the Bible
teaches. It is impossible know how to be holy without reading the Word of
God. Holiness is more than the way you dress; it is why you dress that
way. Holiness is more than your words; it is why you say what you say or
don’t say. Holiness is more than where you will not go; it is why you
will not go in those places.
THEY WANTED TO BE DIRECTED BY HIS WILL.
Matthew 2:14-15
"When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and
departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Out of Egypt have I called my son."
Herod wants to have the Christ child killed. He was a very wicked man. He
had three of his sons killed because he thoughts they were a threat to
his being king. So what would you think he thought when a group of wise
men from the East that inquired where is he that is born King of the
Jews. He would think that this would be a threat to his throne. Of
course, he would want to destroy that child.
A. His will is always the righteous way. It is the way that is in
accordance to the Bible. You can only really find God’s will this way.
Praying and reading is the path to the will of God. God’s will does not
lead you away from the house of God. It will lead you away from the
people of God.
B. His will is always the royal way. It is that way because you are
following the way that God directs.
C. His will is always the reasonable way. Is it unreasonable to be
directed by God? No, it is not. Presenting yourself to the Lord is
reasonable because it is the greatest gift you can give back to the Lord.
We show that we are doing our duty and delight in the Lord by directed by
Him.
D. His will is always the right way. Smooth waters don’t make good
sailors. Do not expect the will of God to be smooth. Joseph and Mary had
to leave the country in accordance to the will of God. (I was thinking
how God provided their needs before the trip. The three gifts of the wise
men probably was enough to make the trip and then some.)
IV. THEY WERE DEPENDENT UPON HIM.
Proverbs 3:5,6
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
paths."
A lot of people have these two verses as their life verses. I wonder if
this was Mary and Joseph’s life’s verse. Many events would go on in their
lives. We don’t know when Joseph died. But you know that had to be a
great blow to Mary. Then Mary saw all the events that occurred in those
three years of Jesus’ ministry. I am sure that she had to lean on these
verses quite highly.
He supplied their needs. He showed them the way.
Conclusion: I want to try to tie this all together as we are trying to
conclude this message on this Christmas morning.
1. Have we given the Lord our lives voluntarily? The person who is saved
and does not is missing the greatest blessings that a person could have.
D. L. Moody was challenge in a sermon one time with a statement that he
made as his personal challenge. "The world is yet to see what the Lord
can do with, for, through and in a man who is fully and wholly
consecrated to Him." Moody was determined to be that man. Basically he
was that man. God used Moody for His glory.
Jim Elliott wrote these words in his diary in Bible College. He did not
realize that folks would be talking about him still after dying in
Ecuador in 1956. "A man is no fool to give what he cannot keep in order
to gain what he cannot lose."
These men with literally thousands like them voluntarily gave their lives
to the Lord Jesus. Have you?
2. Do you desire to be holy? Manning said this about holiness. Holiness
does not consist in doing uncommon things, but in doing every thing with
purity of heart.
"The serene, silent beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence
in the world, next to the might of the Spirit of God." -Pascal
"I believe the holier a man becomes, the more he mourns over the
unholiness that remains in him." –Spurgeon
"An outer sign of a lack of holiness is that we don’t blush anymore over
sin." (Chuck Swindoll) "The challenge is not merely pursing righteousness
but to prefer righteousness." (John Piper)
3. Have you the desire to be directed by the Lord? Being directed by the
Lord means we rely upon the One who knows the way much better than we do.
One of my favorite songs is "Fear not tomorrow". The song reminds us that
we are not to fear tomorrow for God is already there. When directed by
the Lord, the way may be rough and steep but God knows. Those trials and
temptation are only for a moment. In the light of eternity, they are just
a short segment of life.
2 Corinthians 4:15-18
"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through
the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we
faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is
renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we
look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which
are not seen are eternal."
Psalm 30:5
"For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may
endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."
Romans 8:28-29
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
What is the purpose of God when He directs us and we run into
difficulties? It is to mold and make us into His image. For most of us,
that is a long process.
Do you dependent upon Him for all of life? This is easier preached than
practiced.
If you have never been saved, this entire message is basically empty
words. You cannot quite understand why Mary and Joseph were willing to do
all that they did.
Merry Christmas
The greatest gift ever given to man was the birth of Jesus
Christ. His birth has been part of world history. Every year we celebrate
His birthday with the giving of gifts, singing, sharing and spreading
cheer wherever we go.
But I want make you think about some great spiritual truths in relation
to His birth. I want to make you think by us thinking along these lines--
JUST SUPPOSE. Suppose this world into which Jesus had not come.
A minister fell asleep in his study on Christmas morn. In his dream he
found himself looking through his home, but no little stockings hung by
the chimney. Neither Christmas wreaths nor holly decorated the house. He
walked out on the street, but nowhere could he see a church with its
spire pointing to heaven. Returning to his library, he wanted to read a
book on the Christian faith, but every book about Jesus had disappeared.
His doorbell rang. A messenger asked him to visit a dying woman. He
hurried to her home. Sitting down beside the lady he said, "I have
something here that will comfort you." He opened his Bible to look for a
familiar New Testament verse, but the Bible ended at Malachi. He could
only bow his head and weep with her in bitter despair. Two days later he
stood beside this woman’s coffin to conduct the funeral service. But
there was no message of consolation. As the service concluded by the
grave, there was no word of glorious resurrection, no open heaven, but
only "ashes to ashes, dust to dust," and one long farewell. Realizing
that Jesus had not come, the minister in his dream burst into sobbing.
Suddenly he woke with a start. He heard the choir rehearsing in his
church next door. A shout of praise poured from his lips as he listened
to the message of the carol "O Come, All Ye Faithful." This dream was
really a nightmare. In fact, all of life would be just a nightmare had
Jesus not come with His light and love. JUST SUPPOSE!
Had Jesus not come, there would have been no Sistine Chapel, no Red
Cross, no Salvation Army. Not one Ivy League school, not Princeton,
Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, or Penn would exist, had the
Father not sent His Son Jesus to our planet. JUST SUPPOSE!
The local hospitals, where some of you were born, some of you were
operated on, and where some of you work would not provide their services.
JUST SUPPOSE!
The pilgrims would not have sailed on the Mayflower and America would not
have been founded had not Jesus come into the world. JUST SUPPOSE!
That building would not be standing. This lighthouse and soul-saving
station would not be here. You and I would never have met if the angels
never sang to welcome His birth. JUST SUPPOSE!
Not one of the billions of sins committed everyday could be washed away
had Jesus not drawn a breath of Bethlehem’s air. JUST SUPPOSE!
No mansions would await us in Heaven’s fair land if shepherds hadn’t
attended the manger out back of the Inn in Galilee. JUST SUPPOSE!
No intercession would take place on our behalf if Gabriel hadn’t visited
Mary. If Joseph had not obeyed to take Mary unto himself, had they had
not walked seventy some miles, nine months pregnant, across some rough
terrain, in a very taxing situation to bring Jesus into the world. JUST
SUPPOSE!
Not one Christmas card bearing tidings of hope, peace, goodwill or joy
would arrive in your mailbox. No presents would await you under your tree
had not we received God’s love gift of His Son. JUST SUPPOSE!
Suppose Mary did not want this child. It would bring reproach upon her
because it would seem that she was having a child out of wedlock. Now in
our modern society, it seems that this is not so bad, but for Mary to do
so, she would be violating God’s law. Even though Mary had never known a
man and continued in this way until Jesus’ birth, she would have been
tainted with this for the rest of her life. Suppose a wicked abortionist
or a member of Planned Parenthood had been Mary’s best friend. JUST
SUPPOSE!
Suppose Joseph did not want to marry this girl because she was carrying a
child that was not his. He would have been within his Biblical rights to
refuse to marry her. Or he could have taken her before the elders and had
her stoned. JUST SUPPOSE!
Suppose they decided that Caesar’s taxation was wrong and had rebelled
ant stayed at home instead of going to Bethlehem to be numbered. JUST
SUPPOSE!
Suppose that they decided that they had to stay in Bethlehem in spite of
the angel’s warning to leave because wicked King Herod was on the way to
kill all the children under two years of age. JUST SUPPOSE Joseph passed
off the dream as his eating the wrong things before going to bed. He
might have thought he was having a nightmare. JUST SUPPOSE!
Well, we know that the Joseph and Mary did the right thing. Because of
their obedience, we have the safe delivery of the Lord Jesus in the right
city at the right time. Today I want to show your four reasons why I know
Joseph and Mary did what they did and why events turned out as they did.
I. THEY DEDICATED THEMSELVES TO HIS SERVICE.
Luke 1:34-38
"Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a
man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son
in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called
barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold
the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the
angel departed from her."
They were dedicated themselves voluntarily.
Leviticus 1:3
"If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male
without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD."
Joshua 24:15
"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom
ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on
the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land
ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
They realized that they were the Lord’s by the virtue of creation but
they belonged to the Lord by the act of surrendering their lives to the
Lord. They were willing to suffer the shame of seeming to have
illegitimate child. In our society this is not frowned upon as it was in
that day. But Mary and Joseph knew that they would be the topic of many
of the gossiper’s words and conversations. They may have been shunned.
But they were willing to suffer this. This is similar what Paul was
trying to tell the Corinthian believers.
Their dedication was without blemish.
Leviticus 1:3
"If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male
without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD."
Dedication to God’s service should never be for fleshly motives. Fleshly
motives could be for the money that this may have. It may be for the
position of life. I am sure that Mary would have wanted folks to know
that she was pregnant with the Messiah that God had promised. This is one
reason why it is wrong to completely focus mainly focus on Mary. She was
born a sinner. If she had not made Jesus Christ her Saviour, she would
have died as a sinner and gone to hell. This can be proved from verses
from the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes 7:20
"For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth
not."
Isaiah 53:6
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Mary worship like many churches do is nothing less than idolatry. The
Catholic Church has practiced this for years. The Lord Jesus is the only
one in which we are to pray.
John 14:13-14
"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will
do it."
He is our only mediator. 1st Timothy 2:5
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus"
Accepting service for the Lord is really the road of "don’t want to
return". Why turn from following the Lord Jesus? I did one time in my
life and regret those wasted years. I will have nothing to place at the
feet of Jesus for those years.
II. THEY DESIRED TO BE HOLY 1 Peter 1:15-16
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."
2nd Timothy 2:21-22
"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto
honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto
every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness,
faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure
heart."
Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter comments on Biblical holiness. "No subject which
ever engages the thought of Christian believers can be more sacredly
commanding than that of our personal holiness, by which I mean an
inwrought holiness of heart and life. Beyond contradiction, this is our
‘priority-number-one’ concern. Admittedly, one would not infer so from
the general appearance of things just now, but it is so, if the New
Testament is true."
"Although this deeper work of the Holy Spirit in the consecrated believer
seems little expounded in the average church today, with the unhappy
consequence that comparatively few Christians seem to know much about it
in experience, it still remains true that this call to holiness is the
first call of the New Testament to all Christians. For the moment, let
just one text of Scripture represent the many to us: Ephesians 1:4,
staggering in its mystery and immensity: "He [God] hath chosen us in Him
[Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love."
Holiness is more than a look or attitude. It has to be a desire to follow
the Lord in every area of our lives and be holy because it will please
God. Mary and Joseph would have desired this because the Lord allowed the
Lord Jesus to be born in this home. They did all that the Law required.
When Jesus was eight days old, they circumcised Him.
It ought to be our desire to be as holy as we know that the Bible
teaches. It is impossible know how to be holy without reading the Word of
God. Holiness is more than the way you dress; it is why you dress that
way. Holiness is more than your words; it is why you say what you say or
don’t say. Holiness is more than where you will not go; it is why you
will not go in those places.
THEY WANTED TO BE DIRECTED BY HIS WILL.
Matthew 2:14-15
"When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and
departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Out of Egypt have I called my son."
Herod wants to have the Christ child killed. He was a very wicked man. He
had three of his sons killed because he thoughts they were a threat to
his being king. So what would you think he thought when a group of wise
men from the East that inquired where is he that is born King of the
Jews. He would think that this would be a threat to his throne. Of
course, he would want to destroy that child.
A. His will is always the righteous way. It is the way that is in
accordance to the Bible. You can only really find God’s will this way.
Praying and reading is the path to the will of God. God’s will does not
lead you away from the house of God. It will lead you away from the
people of God.
B. His will is always the royal way. It is that way because you are
following the way that God directs.
C. His will is always the reasonable way. Is it unreasonable to be
directed by God? No, it is not. Presenting yourself to the Lord is
reasonable because it is the greatest gift you can give back to the Lord.
We show that we are doing our duty and delight in the Lord by directed by
Him.
D. His will is always the right way. Smooth waters don’t make good
sailors. Do not expect the will of God to be smooth. Joseph and Mary had
to leave the country in accordance to the will of God. (I was thinking
how God provided their needs before the trip. The three gifts of the wise
men probably was enough to make the trip and then some.)
IV. THEY WERE DEPENDENT UPON HIM.
Proverbs 3:5,6
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
paths."
A lot of people have these two verses as their life verses. I wonder if
this was Mary and Joseph’s life’s verse. Many events would go on in their
lives. We don’t know when Joseph died. But you know that had to be a
great blow to Mary. Then Mary saw all the events that occurred in those
three years of Jesus’ ministry. I am sure that she had to lean on these
verses quite highly.
He supplied their needs. He showed them the way.
Conclusion: I want to try to tie this all together as we are trying to
conclude this message on this Christmas morning.
1. Have we given the Lord our lives voluntarily? The person who is saved
and does not is missing the greatest blessings that a person could have.
D. L. Moody was challenge in a sermon one time with a statement that he
made as his personal challenge. "The world is yet to see what the Lord
can do with, for, through and in a man who is fully and wholly
consecrated to Him." Moody was determined to be that man. Basically he
was that man. God used Moody for His glory.
Jim Elliott wrote these words in his diary in Bible College. He did not
realize that folks would be talking about him still after dying in
Ecuador in 1956. "A man is no fool to give what he cannot keep in order
to gain what he cannot lose."
These men with literally thousands like them voluntarily gave their lives
to the Lord Jesus. Have you?
2. Do you desire to be holy? Manning said this about holiness. Holiness
does not consist in doing uncommon things, but in doing every thing with
purity of heart.
"The serene, silent beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence
in the world, next to the might of the Spirit of God." -Pascal
"I believe the holier a man becomes, the more he mourns over the
unholiness that remains in him." –Spurgeon
"An outer sign of a lack of holiness is that we don’t blush anymore over
sin." (Chuck Swindoll) "The challenge is not merely pursing righteousness
but to prefer righteousness." (John Piper)
3. Have you the desire to be directed by the Lord? Being directed by the
Lord means we rely upon the One who knows the way much better than we do.
One of my favorite songs is "Fear not tomorrow". The song reminds us that
we are not to fear tomorrow for God is already there. When directed by
the Lord, the way may be rough and steep but God knows. Those trials and
temptation are only for a moment. In the light of eternity, they are just
a short segment of life.
2 Corinthians 4:15-18
"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through
the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we
faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is
renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we
look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which
are not seen are eternal."
Psalm 30:5
"For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may
endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."
Romans 8:28-29
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
What is the purpose of God when He directs us and we run into
difficulties? It is to mold and make us into His image. For most of us,
that is a long process.
Do you dependent upon Him for all of life? This is easier preached than
practiced.
If you have never been saved, this entire message is basically empty
words. You cannot quite understand why Mary and Joseph were willing to do
all that they did.
Merry Christmas
G
greyfeather
Guest
May you all have a peaceful and joyful Christmas , and may God bless each of you. Have a safe New Year , that is filled with hope.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.
S
Servant_2000
Guest
C
cly
Guest
Yes, I know, I'm a day late and a dollar short (which is actually true since it's just after Christmas!), but I hope everyone's Christmas went well! Happy New Year to all of you, too! :bday: