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Tag: christmas

  • a Gift You Cannot Touch & a God You Can Embrace

    a Gift You Cannot Touch & a God You Can Embrace

    What are your expectations for Christmas? What are your memories of gifts and special moments past seasons? What gift have you given? What gifts will you receive?

    We hope anew for each Christmas to bring light into the darkness of our disappointments, discouragement of days past, present and future.

    Eddie Roger Jenny on skates
    Cortland Roller Rink c.1955

    What was it like when you were a child? What special gift remains in your memory in great detail, what special moment of Christmas yet warms your heart with love and joy?

    baby hugs pooh bearOr perhaps your warmest memories are from a special moment of a gift you gave to your own child, hugs of a Pooh Bear or love overflowing through a well-planned shared moment of opening a Christmas gift.

    So many of us rely on and turn back to our memories of Christmas. I remember Christmas pageants and little angels elbowing each other, as well as well-rehearsed Christmas carols bringing a chuckle of joy over an unplanned solo or lyric not just quite right.

    In the year of our Lord, 2015, Christmas seems so out of reach…

    We have ordered even more of our gifts from those online warehouses. We have sent less Christmas cards, made less phone calls, cancelled caroling and planned less dinners with others (at least that’s how it seems here).

    I have ordered gifts that may or may not arrive on time to loved ones I may or may not see. I have missed the touch of picking out personal gifts and handling them; wrapping them in a carefully chosen paper and seeing the look on their faces when my gift is opened. Rather, I hope these too many untouched gifts make it to far away places by Christmas.

    IMG_20151203_164417I have my Charlie Brown Christmas this year and Rudolph…

    We have so many lights and a big tree (but it isn’t real & I didn’t cut it down myself as I once did).

    Oh, and we do have a Nativity scene on the mantle. (We all get a little distracted by Christmas, don’t we?)

    Our church has already had a wonderful Christmas program. We invited guests; about half of them came. Carolers were going to come to our neighborhood this year from the Christian school, but that got rained out. (Less than half of the homes here even have Christmas lights.)

     

    Christmas is named for Jesus Christ

    Why, I suppose most would wonder? Why have Christmas? Why does a busy world like ours even need Jesus Christ?

    Of course our neighbors, rebellious family and unbelieving friends certainly don’t want to hear about the Cross of Jesus Christ and Easter. (More than enough violence in the world we would rather avoid.) But Christmas, that’s a holiday we can sell. (People like the lights and gifts and all. Makes us all feel good and remember nice stuff, right?)

    Just as Christmas has become a time of sending gifts we cannot touch, Christmas has also become a time of Jesus most of us cannot share.

     

    May I gently remind you here that I have shared Christmas messages with friends, family & strangers every year AND that so few of you have responded positively by even registering on my web site?

    I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. – 1 Corinthians 9:23

    Very few of us SHARE anything about Jesus with others or have any COMMENT on the Christian Social Witness of our brothers and sisters in Christ our Lord.

    We live in very impersonal times. Others wear headphones attached to their devices so that they will not have to hear us. The world is engaged in buying gifts for our selfish pleasures more than sacrificing things for the joy of a few others. Christmas is just another buying season, and a big one at that.

    Yet when we silence the music, turn off the virtual visual distraction of the games and news and entertainment; when we sit silently for once, peering into the opened gift of our beating heart, we find a void for the Gift of God better understood as the Baby Jesus in a manger, than a fearsome Father God at the Throne of Judgment.

    Fear Not!

    Fear not! Do you fear a Babe in a manger? Certainly not.

    Our GOD is a loving, compassionate and forgiving God, though He IS HOLY.

    Mankind feared the Presence of Almighty God, even more than a Father looking over you. Man fears any spirit, which we cannot see and do not understand, let alone the Spirit of the Living God when the LORD has made Himself know in time and place.

    Therefore, even angels, who worship and obey Almighty God; angels as messengers sent to the sons of Adam; powerful angels all men fear begin their announcement of the Messiah with: Fear not.

    Luke 2:

    10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

    14 “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

    Is the LORD pleased with you this Christmas, in His year 2015?

    You were made in the very image of God.

    No man or woman can reflect the Perfect loving righteousness of the LORD. By our sin we openly rebel against our Heavenly Father, who has created all things. By the distraction of our misguided hopes and dreams of self-righteous accomplishment, we reject the Spirit of God and forget to number our days.

    Even so, in His loving plan of redemption for those who will turn back to the LORD,

    God sent His only Son to a Manger, that we might embrace HIM.

    When Jesus’ beloved Disciple John once more beheld the Risen Christ in a Revelation of God’s plan, what were His first words of comfort?

    Fear not,

    I am the first and the last, and the living one.

    I died, and behold I am alive forevermore,

    and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

    Revelation 1:17b-18

    Perhaps you fear other men or circumstances. Maybe you fear your own death. You might even have reverence for God our Father and occasionally give Him a small portion of the glory God deserves.

    Joseph and JesusYet this Christmas, even by your confession, I adjure you to embrace Jesus as your Lord; embrace Christ Jesus just as you would lovingly hold a baby in a manger.

    Merry Christmas, beloved.

    Roger

  • A voice was heard in Ramah

    A voice was heard in Ramah

    A baby born in a manger..  What a peaceful scene to make us think of children.

    What does Christmas, in the year of our Lord, 2015, have to do with the birth of Christ in a manger in Bethlehem?

    Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.  

    – Jeremiah 31:15

    Matthew 2:

    the-visit-of-the-magiNow after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

    6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
        are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
    for from you shall come a ruler
        who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

    7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

    What has war between the nations changed over the millennia, except the suffering of innocents by the hands of the sinful?

    King Herod of Judea was a ruthless and savvy political leader, not unlike those who vie for power over the innocents in this post-modern day.

    Herod had already executed his brother-in-law and High Priest Aristobulus III and also ended the rival rule of the Hasmonean kings of Judea by killing Hyrcanus II.  source  

    After the three Wise Men from the East (Jews from former Seleucid lands) came with news of the Messiah, Herod did what any ruthless ruler does (then and even now). He sought to kill off any King who might come against him and take away his power. Herod ordered a killing of innocents.

    Herod Kills the Children

    16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

    18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
    weeping and loud lamentation,
    Rachel weeping for her children;
    she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

    c. 5 B.C. at the time following the birth of Jesus Christ

    • Best estimates of the number of children under two ordered to be killed by Herod was 20
    Persecution
    IS – Voice of the Martyrs

    crying child UNHCR

    December 2015

    • 265 Children under age one have been killed in the war in Syria since 2011.
    • One in eight babies are born in conflict zones, 16.6 million in all
    • Violence has forced 60 Million people from their homes
    • Victims of Muslim sectarian violence & Christians must flee or pay a tax to live in fear at home
    • Up to 50% of IS & terrorist funding comes from forced taxes & they control all local trade
    • More than 980,000 people have applied for asylum in EU countries this year alone!

    Syrian, Saudi, Iranian and Russian despots are no less ruthless than King Herod. Yet the LORD God Almighty sent his only Son, Christ Jesus, into a place and time of danger – a humble manger in Bethlehem of Judea.

    What has this changed for the world?

    Did Jesus rule with an iron fist and the Power of Almighty God for a mere few acres of earth in the Middle East?

    NO! A loving God our Father sent his Son, the Messiah of Israel and the hope of the Nations (including atheist and arab nations) to save beloved chosen individual souls from our sin and from eternal punishment and death. Jesus Christ did not fight for a homeland, but for Heaven above. Christ Jesus lived and died that you may have life eternal.

    Joseph and Mary rescued baby Jesus from Bethlehem and Herod. They fled with the Messiah to Egypt.

    The baby Jesus was a refugee.

    Matthew 2:

    19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

     

    Just two more thoughts: first about IS, Boko Haram & other evil men, and secondly, the refugees of 2015 who have fled from violent and powerful leaders of nations, from violent and powerful zealous misled Muslims:

    Love Your Enemies

    Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

    Show your love to a child like Jesus

    Matthew 25:37-38

    Then the righteous will answer him, saying,

    ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

    And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

    When did we help?

    When did you?

    Help Syrian Refugees

    To be contimued

    This post is part of the continuing series of post for Christmas, in the year of our Lord 2015, by Roger Harned.

  • Stubble & Chaff – Repentance before the Lord

    Stubble & Chaff – Repentance before the Lord

    “Behold, I send My messenger,
    And he will prepare the way before Me.
    And the Lord, whom you seek,
    Will suddenly come to His temple,
    Even the Messenger of the covenant,
    In whom you delight.
    Behold, He is coming,”
    Says the Lord of hosts.

    Malachi 3:1 NKJV

    The prophesy is clear from Malachi, Prophet of the Lord in Judea of Persia, perhaps shortly before his death in about 486 B.C. History of the next five centuries leading up to another Prophet in the wilderness and the Messiah would be tough times for God’s chosen ones.

    What main course awaits Priests, Rabbis and a defeated people of Israel?

    Repentance!

    Malachi 3: ESV

    refiners-fire Malachi 3.22 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

    For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver…

     

    Surely the LORD can do this. He can bring repentance to the life and purity to the heart of any man. Yet how we resist: Priest (sons of Levi) or Rabbi (teacher), or common one who knows the Lord and continues in the impurities of sin.

    The LORD is going to send a fuller’s soap man to the Jews to purify their hearts and prepare the Temple.

    Malachi 3:5 excerpt I will be a swift witness against

    • the sorcerers,
    • against the adulterers,
    • against those who swear falsely,
    • against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages,
    • (those who oppress) the widow and the fatherless,
    • against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and

    “I will be a swift witness against … those who do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. Mal. 3:5

     

    A mere mortal would come along in time to accuse a Jewish King rightfully of adultery. He would accuse officials of the Temple and teachers of the Law of their leavening of God’s word. Like Prophets before and John the Baptist, who would follow five centuries later, Malachi warns that God requires repentance.

    7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

    The Lord indicts us of our sin through the words of the Prophet Malachi. Note that some, not all respond.

     

    The Book of Remembrance

    16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

    Malachi 4:

    The Great Day of the Lord

    Malachi 4:14  “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

    sun of righteousness2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

    4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

    5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

    Five Centuries Later

    Luke 3:

    John the Baptist Prepares the Way

    3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

    7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

    As humble as the Lord Christ Jesus IS, born in a manger, baptized by John though He is righteous, and sacrificed on a cross for our sins; He IS King and Lord yet to return on the clouds in these last days to call up the dead to judgment and the living to new and eternal life.

    Repent!wheat-kernals-in-hand1

    Turn back to your Father, the Lord. Bear the fruit of righteousness, fellow sinner condemned.

    Or meet your Maker as He separates the wheat from the chaff.

    Even the Chosen of God and christians only claiming Christ are lost without repentance, a turning of our hearts back to the Lord our God.

    Isaiah 33:

    10 “Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
        “now I will lift myself up;
        now I will be exalted.
    11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
        your breath is a fire that will consume you.
    12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
        like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

    Are the warnings of God through the Prophets not more urgent to sinners in these last days?

    Therefore, repent! The Lord IS come.

    13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
        and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
    14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
        trembling has seized the godless:

    “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
        Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”

    To be continued…

    These messages highlight the scripture of the coming of the Messiah, Christ Jesus, Who IS and was and will always be. Prepare your hearts in this year of our Lord, 2015, for Christmas and for the day when the Lord will return.