Month: December 2017

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The Holy Transfer

13th December

“For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”

Colossians 1:13-14

Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from satan’s pow’r
When we were gone astray

Praise God for Jesus! What wonderful news right?! We are no longer bound or led by the kingdom of darkness, but have been ‘transferred’ into the Kingdom of LIGHT! We are no longer bound by sins shackles and chains but have been plucked up, and placed into the Kingdom of Almighty God! We have been saved from the enemy’s power and his lies, and been redeemed to stand before God as forgiven children. It is through Jesus, who came 2000 years ago, who lived, died and rose again, that we find full forgiveness and freedom. As Paul tells us in verse 22 of the same chapter, we can now come into His presence ‘as holy and blameless’ children, standing ‘before Him without a single fault’! Amen. We are completely washed clean by our Saviour, who was born for us!

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O Holy Night

12th December

“That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them..”

Luke 2:8-9

The night of Jesus’ birth was probably filled with so much drama. From Mary and Joseph struggling to find accommodation to angels appearing to Shepherds and people visiting the new born baby. It sounds like a scene from a nativity play gone wrong. Yet these things did happen as we read about them in scripture. Yet as busy as it was, the birth of Jesus brought peace, joy and hope to the world. His birth changed the world as we know it. Moreover, Jesus birth demonstrates to us too, that even in the midst of the storms in our lives, even in the commotion of decision making, problem solving and worrying, if Jesus is in the center, He can bring us peace and hope. That holy night, long ago, is the reason why we can call ourselves children of God and inheritors of His peace and blessings.

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Joy To The World

11th December

““but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Saviour – yes, the Messiah, the Lord – has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!””

Luke 2:10-11

Joy to the World, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King, Let every heart prepare Him room, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing. Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns!

Joy to the world, is one of the most well known Christmas Carols that has been written. Why? Of course it has a catchy melody but the main reason is because it is the Gospel and is Good News! People love to sing about Good News. You can almost imagine the angels gathered around singing this song to the shepherds as they eagerly clung on to their every word, rejoicing that finally the Saviour, the Messiah, the long awaited King had finally been born as foretold by the prophets of old.

Yet the angels didn’t just bring Good News for those who were alive at the time of Jesus’ birth. They bring Good News to us now, with the same message! ‘Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, is still alive today, bringing about salvation to all!’ This is great news for us all! For every generation, for every part of history and the future, for young and old, for all people everywhere! There is no discrimination, no judgement, no segregation and certainly no favouritism. The Good News is for all; and YOU are part of it. Indeed, let every heart prepare Him room. Let them receive their King! This Christmas season, we too can be filled with unspeakable joy as we remember the birth of our dear Saviour Jesus Christ, the King of the World, our Champion and Lord!

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Christmas Is Love, Christmas Is Peace

9th-10th December

Weekend Edition

“For a child is born to us, a Son is given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 9:6

The popular Christmas song, ‘mistletoe and wine’ written by Cliff Richard, contains some of the most wonderful truths about Christmas. One key verse of the song says that Christmas is,

A time for giving
A time for getting
A time for forgiving and for forgetting.
Christmas is love
Christmas is peace
A time for hating and fighting to cease.

Yet as wonderful as this truth is, if we look to ourselves for fighting and hating to end, we will only end up in disappointment. In and of ourselves, we have no power to end these things. Yes we can forgive, yes we can bite our lip to not say something cruel, but our hateful actions start from our heart; and that can only be changed by Jesus. In fact, as the prophet Isaiah spoke many years ago, it is only Jesus who can bring true peace because He is the Prince of peace. Yes, peace is a person. That is why if the Prince of Peace lives in your heart, you can find total peace, even in the midst of a storm and even when there only seems to be hate and fighting. He is the Prince of Peace. He is in control. He is Peace. Let His peace rule and reign, and dictate your life, not hating and fighting!!

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He Rules The World With Truth And Grace

 

8th December

“Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of the highest honour and gave Him the Name above all other names, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:8-11

Often, we have a mindset that the enemy is in control of everything that happens on this earth. Yet that is simply not true. Although it is undeniable the stain of the enemies footprints are everywhere to be seen, it is ultimately God who is the ruler and reign-er of this earth, the Heavens and the universe. The book of John tells us that nothing was made without the voice of Jesus. And nothing has changed since then. By the power of God’s voice the earth was created and in the Name of Jesus the world is sustained. Perhaps the writer of the Christmas carol, ‘joy to the world’ had it right all along. He truly does rule the world with His truth and grace.

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For God So Loved The World…That’s You & Me

 

7th December

“For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.. . He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9b

Sin can sometimes feel like a spider web. You get enticed by its appeals, yet slowly it encompasses you and starts to spin you around in lures and false temptations and hopes. Before you know you are trapped in its bound and perhaps in the cycle of sinning. If that is you, then all is not lost. There is hope. That hope is Jesus Christ. He came so we won’t perish in our sin. Instead He breaks every chain that binds us by the power of His love and grace. Furthermore, He doesn’t want any of us to perish but for us to live, and live in the fullness of His love. He loved us so much, that is why He came to this world. Friend, there is a way out, there is hope and there is a future for you, free from the binds of sin, and the spider web that you may feel trapped in. God is on your side. Just repent, believe and accept His love and forgiveness, and watch every chain that has been binding you fall away!!

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The Stack Game

6th December

“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the time and died for us sinners.”

Romans 5:6

There is a new app now available on smartphones where the aim of the game is to see how high you can jump over oncoming platforms. The higher you jump, the more points you score. The tricky part is that the platforms come from both left and right and at varied speeds. As soon as you miss-time your jump, the platform knocks you off the tower of platforms you have managed to jump over and you start again from zero. Our lives can sometimes feel like that.

We sometimes feel undefeatable living in the fullness of God’s grace and mercy, when suddenly something knocks you off your feet and you feel like you are back at square one. That killer punch may be an unexpected circumstance, a stumble in our walk with God, a temptation that has popped its ugly head up again, or perhaps something out of your control. Whatever it is, let today’s verse be an encouragement for you. Get back up. We are never too far out of reach from God’s grace. His mercies are new every morning. He is the one that encourages us and picks us back up to keep pressing on. That is why Jesus came. He came so we might live. And He came at just the right time. Not only for when we feel like we are at the top of a huge stack of platforms, but especially, for when we feel knocked down, out for the count and ‘utterly helpless’!

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Sin Entered The World By One BUT..

 

5th December

“…For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many, But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5:15b

Isn’t the word BUT such a wonderful word. In a positive context, all that can come before it, can be swept away by what precedes it. Today’s wonderful bible verse is a perfect example of this. The writer of Romans explains to us, that because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, death and sin entered the world. BUT because of the grace of God, who sent Jesus to take the place for the punishment of our sin and the death caused by it, we are free by receiving His forgiveness. It’s like everything before the BUT is swept away by this river of grace. There is no longer any need to focus on what comes before the BUT rejoice in what happened after it. That BUT was a turning point in the history of mankind, and if you allow it, can be a turning point in your life too. Receive His forgiveness and live in the fullness of God’s grace.

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Nothing You Can DO But Accept

 

4th December

“God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

The Gospel is simple, yet on the same hand, it is the most difficult thing. What do we mean by this? Well, the simple part is, through no endeavour of our own or good works or following a set of rules or any such like thing, we can be saved by simply believing and accepting that by God’s grace, our sins are forgiven through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and our confession and repentance of them. The hard and such difficult thing is accepting this.

As humans our natural instinct is to want to pay for something we have. We don’t go to a restaurant and expect a free meal. We want to pay for it, often out of appreciation. The same is with a piece of art or a service we may have received. Our natural reaction or expectation is that when we receive something, we feel we are obliged to either return the gift, service or item with an equal value: money or such like. Yet salvation is completely different. It is not repayable. There is no value on it. Moreover, the price has already been paid and our debt cleared by Jesus, Himself, the giver of salvation. Our only response to it, is not to try to pay for it by our good works, but simply in thanksgiving and rejoicing, receive salvation and let His salvation change us.

Friends, we can’t boast or take credit for our salvation because of the things we have done. On the contrary, we boast in what Christ has done and give Him the glory. This Christmas season, if you don’t know Jesus yet, receive His free gift of salvation. There are no strings attached, nothing is owed. Just accept, believe and receive His forgiveness and love. That is grace. That is true love. That is why we celebrate His birth.