WHO HAS THE REAL CHRISTMAS SPIRIT?

For today in the city of David there has been born for you

a Savior who is Christ the Lord.  Luke 2:11

During the Christmas season, we think about the “Christmas spirit.”  Yet this spirit is very different for many.  To get a proper definition of it, let’s go back to the first Christmas in Luke 2:1-20 and investigate what this real spirit is and who has it.

First we meet Caesar Augustus, the emperor of the Roman Empire.  To Caesar, the Christmas spirit with his census was materialistic and monetary.  That spirit continues today.  Christmas is by and large what we can get from the season.  Is this the real spirit of Christmas?

Then we meet the unknown innkeeper.  Mary and Joseph travelled some 75 miles over rough terrain arriving in Bethlehem without a motel reservation.  But the harried innkeeper’s response to them/Christ was “No Vacancy.”  That spirit continues today.  We get so busy with our activities that when Christ knocks, He gets the “NO VACANCY” sign shoved in His face (Revelation 3:20).  Is this the real Christmas spirit?

Next we meet the shepherds on a hillside near Bethlehem.  Their nightly routine is interrupted by some angels whose spirit was one of joy and praise that the Savior had been born.  This is the real Christmas spirit!  After hearing the news, the shepherds searched with urgency until they found the Child.  Then they proclaimed the good news to others!  Far too many people sing of Jesus, put up nativity scenes, go to church, have warm feelings, BUT … never experience a personal relationship with Christ.  Will you stay in the fields or come to the cross and receive life everlasting?

Finally, we find Mary pondering, considering all these things.  The real spirit is not material gifts or profits, not ceaseless activity, BUT to personally receive Jesus as your Savior, and then to continually praise God and give Him all the worship, glory, and thanksgiving He rightfully deserves.  Christ is the only true spirit of Christmas.

Bob Kulp

HE MAKES EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL IN HIS TIME

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.  Romans 15:4

Moses lived to be 120 years old. Someone has divided up his life like this: For his first 40 years, Moses learned that he was everything. For his second 40 years, Moses learned that he was nothing. For his last 40 years, Moses learned that God is everything.

Spiritual ends are not achieved by human power alone. Yet that is what Moses tried to accomplish in murdering the Egyptian. Warren Wiersbe used to say, “Faith is living without scheming.” Then, Moses hid from Pharaoh. Later, he would write: "Be sure your sin will find you out." God determined to turn Moses into a servant, so He developed Moses into a useful servant through obscurity, and time. In the desert, God strips away all unnecessary things and opens the heart to listen.  Other things are not blocking you from listening to God.  I don't know what your desert might be, but anything that brings personal pain or hardship can be a desert experience of life.  Maybe it's losing your job; a boring thankless job; moving, etc. Time is not God's priority; holiness of character is.  God's desert faculty is obscurity, time, solitude and discomfort.  He uses obscurity to break our pride.  He uses time to cure our fears.  He uses solitude to take away bitterness and resentment; to help us see we have no rights.  We are His.  He uses discomfort to change our habits.

There are 3 ways you can react to the deserts of life:

1.    I don't need it!              Pride

2.    I'm tired of it!               Resentment

3.    I accept it.           Humility, lesson learned.

Will you choose #3? If you do, then you will experience how God makes everything beautiful in His time.

Ike Graham

THE PLAY’S THE THING

So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace… Eph. 2:7

God has authored an epic drama of cosmic proportions set in a theater that is grandiose beyond the scale of human comprehension. Scientists speculate that there may be 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the Universe—each of which has 100,000,000,000 stars as immense as our sun. These “points of light” are separated by distances so vast that they must be measured in unimaginable units of “light years.” Yet, the center of dramatic activity is an otherwise inconspicuous blue rock that orbits a mundane star on the outer rim of the spiral Milky Way galaxy. In Moses’ account of cosmic origins, only six lines are devoted to the stellar hosts (Gen.1:14-19)—but 39 chapters (Gen.11-50) are allotted to a single human family! 

It is not “arrogant” to regard Earth as exceptional (as atheists commonly charge). This planet ALONE is populated by sapient physical life-forms created in God’s image (Gen.1:27) whose flesh has been assumed by God (Heb.2:14-16) for the purpose of securing their redemption. When the Savior completed His atoning work for the sons of Adam, He sat down (Heb. 10:12)—He will not “re-incarnate” elsewhere for the sake of some mythical “E.T.!”

The theme of this drama is its Author’s own glorious attributes (Eph.2:7, Rom.9:17,22-23). The production concludes, of course, with the Great Playwright Himself appearing on stage to accept the standing ovation of angels and men: “AUTHOR! AUTHOR!”  

The title of today’s devotional is from Hamlet; in context, the “thing” about drama is its power to move men’s hearts to the point of response. Has your heart been stirred by the fact that even YOU have been granted a role in such a grand epic? Perform well!

Terry Reese

RUNNING YOUR RACE

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross... Hebrews 12:1-2b

I was a proud grandparent watching Katie run her cross country race. With me was her other grandfather, mom and dad, all fervent cross country runners, and her brother, sisters and grandmother. As Katie crossed the finish line on that very hot day, she collapsed and was eventually taken by ambulance to the ER.  By the evening she was fine. She left it all on the field as is often said in sports.

The Hebrews are reminded to run with endurance the race before them, because so many are watching, and to fixate their eyes on Jesus who endured so much for us on the cross. Those watching in this context are listed in Heb. 11. This chapter is often called the hall of faith, listing people like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David and many others. They had endured very difficult circumstances; some were even stoned or sawn in two. Others were destitute, afflicted and ill-treated. Makes you wonder about the prosperity preaching of today that if God loves you and you have enough faith, you will be rich and blessed. Even our Lord was crucified for our sakes.                                         

Everyone of us is running a race. Bad things happen to us all. Money and fortunate circumstances cannot insulate us from all of life's problems. One may wonder, "What did I do to deserve such things?" Perhaps nothing at all. Nevertheless, we are in a race and many are watching to see how you fare, perhaps gaining strength or an example to follow seeing how you are handling it. They see your faith in Christ and are pointed to the path of faith in Christ, too. So the next time you face a difficult life challenge, remember it isn't all about you. Others are watching. Live in such a way that it challenges the watchers or even matches those before you in faith, and lifts up the name of Christ.

Russ Simpson 

FACING THE GIANTS

And he (Goliath) stood and called out to the battle lines of Israel and said to them, “Why do you come out to arrange yourselves for battle? Am I not the Philistine and you slaves of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.” 1 Samuel 17:8

Wouldn’t you have liked to have had Goliath on your basketball team!? At 9’ 6” it wouldn’t take much to dunk the ball or get a rebound. Notice what Goliath said in 1 Samuel 17:8, “Am I not the Philistine?” The army of Israel got the message loud and clear. Look at verse 11. They were dismayed and greatly afraid. Is that you?  Is there a giant in your life which is striking fear into your heart?

Maybe it’s the giant of mounting debt. Maybe it’s the giant of a crumbling marital relationship. Maybe it’s the giant of no job. Maybe it’s the giant of a bully at school. How can you overcome these kinds of giants? The answer is the same way that David overcame Goliath. Remember what he said? “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have reproached.” David had strong confidence in God. Do you? Do you really believe that He can overcome, through you and His people, any enemy/giant? David had courage. Do you? He remembered how God had delivered him from the lion and from the bear. God has an impeccable track record. Can you think of times in your life when God has provided for you? When God has answered your prayers?

Even when the opposition is powerful, God is for you. David’s faith was a result of keeping his eyes fixed on the eternal God. Do you focus on the giant, as Israel did, or on God, as David did? Call out to Him and seek His face.

Ike Graham

OUR IMMUTABLE GOD

For I, Yahweh, do not change; therefore you,

O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.  Malachi 3:6 

God is immutable, He never changes.  The God that said, “Let there be light” has never changed.  The God that created Adam and Eve and later expelled them from the Garden of Eden has never changed.  The God that spared Noah through the world-wide flood has never changed. The God that called Abram out of Ur making him many great promises has never changed.  The God who took upon Himself humanity dwelling among us, dying on the cross for our sins then rising from the dead has never changed.  That means His purposes and goals from the creation of the world have never changed.  His love for His people has never changed.  We change rather quickly, but He has never changed.  His unchangeableness is why the “sons of Jacob are not consumed.”  He calls them “Jacob” when they act like the rebellious Jacob, and calls them “Israel” when they act like His people.  In verse seven God charges these “sons of Jacob” with going away from His ordinances.  Yet, because He never changes, and they are His chosen people, they aren’t consumed. 

            For the same reasons the Church today is not consumed for their sins.  The church has changed.  Jesus hasn’t changed.  Modern churches have done a lot more than just going away from His ordinances.  The church ordains women and homosexuals and tolerates about every sinful practice imaginable. Many Christians aren’t even genuinely saved.  Praise God that our churches are a lot better than that.  And, praise God that He never changes or surely in His divine righteous anger He would simply cancel the Rapture and consume us all in the Judgments of the Great Tribulation.

Tom Johnson

SLEEP TIGHT

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage;

I have overcome the world.  John 16:33

Psalm 121; John 16:33; Acts 12:1-19

We were visiting local churches when the coup d’etat we had been expecting finally took place. We had just arrived in this village and parked the truck beside the church building when we heard gunfire. Partisans of the deposed president were threatening merchants to get cash as the weekly market was ending. People around us were deeply concerned. We inflated our mattress in the bed of the truck and ate supper with the pastor and some saints from the church. I lay down at my usual bedtime. Before I went to sleep louder and more regular gunfire erupted. I went to sleep quickly (per usual). Ruth stayed awake to discover how long the noise would continue. It ceased after 3 ½ hours!

The professor from the Chadian GBC School of Theology was barricading himself in the hut the church folks had given him for the night. That hut was “completely safe,” having the normal door of a tin roofing sheet nailed to a frame of one-by-ones. What soldier with a machine gun could penetrate that!?

In the morning the professor asked me how I had slept all night. He had not slept a wink but heard me snoring all night! My response was, “Sam, I told my heavenly Father, ‘I am tired. You are going to be up all night. So, good night.’” The pastor thanked us for staying put. He told us that, if we had not remained the people would have run into the bush out of fear for their lives. Our presence had a calming influence.

In the morning we discovered the source of the noise. A group of soldiers who had decided to be loyal to the new president had come across a group of those loyal to the deposed president who had been robbing citizens as they fled toward the Central African Republic where they were hoping to find refuge. A gun fight ensued involving bazookas and recoilless rifles. Men on both sides were killed, and vehicles and houses were destroyed!

Les Vnasdale

NIGHTFALL

…night is coming when no one can work. John 9:4

Jesus, our example of everything a man should be (1Pet.2:21), establishes a pattern for us in John 9:4. Regarding His own opportunities to labor for the Father, He is profoundly mindful of the brevity of His own earthly span; His hour would soon come. This is an admonition that is reiterated throughout the Scriptures. Solomon therefore advises us, in light of our mortality: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” (Eccl. 9:10).

Easily we withdraw into pessimistic resignation when confronted with societal putrefaction and declining church attendance. “Why prepare for long-term efforts? Why attempt anything great for God when facing a lost cause? Darkness envelopes the entire world… The signs of Tribulation swiftly approach… Quit and wait for the Rapture!” 

Yes, it is with good reason that Grace Brethren people are not postmillennialists (folks who believe that society is progressing towards paradisical conditions, and that the Church itself will usher in the Kingdom before the return of Christ). As premillennialists, we rightly believe that nothing short of the physical Presence of Jesus Himself can inaugurate Millennial glory.

It’s inarguable that fallen human civilization is in its death-spiral (Dan.2:35). But it’s also true that such times of general descent can see moments of revival (e.g., Josiah’s reforms amidst the overall decline of Judah; 2Kings 22-23).    

The commentator Albert Barnes correctly notes that the aged must be mindful of the season; the hour quickly approaches when we will have fully exhausted our earthly opportunities to glorify God through our service. Likewise, the young are not guaranteed another tomorrow. Wherever we are positioned on life’s arc, let us acknowledge that it has pleased God to keep us here, for HIS purposes. “TO THE WORK!”

Terry L. Reese

BURDEN BEARERS

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 

Galatians 6:2

I spent January of 2022 in the Covid ward of a hospital in Arizona. Six of those days I was on a ventilator with Pat preparing to be a widow. However, by God’s amazing grace He had other plans for us. After awakening from and shedding some mental effects of the fentanyl I was given I was moved to a rehabilitation facility to regain the use of my muscles after a month of disuse. It was there that the cards from many of the brethren began to arrive. Cards with Bible verses. Cards with encouraging poems and sayings. Cards with handwritten notes-some short, some long. Cards from people we had not met but that had heard of our challenge. During those six weeks in rehab not many days went by without receiving at least one card. (As I was remembering and writing this, I had a few tears thinking about it.) Such encouragement. We were not alone. Many brethren were bearing our burden with us. As the cards came in, we taped them to the wall where I could see them and be reminded daily of the prayers for us. As workers came in and saw the wall they commented about the love expressed. Apparently, I was the only one in the facility of 64 rooms that had such a display. We prayed for each sender as they came. When I got out, we prayed again for each sender, one a day. As I write this, I am going through the collection one more time and praying for the senders. It is a privilege and joy to be part of a fellowship that takes burden bearing seriously.

Jeffrey Eno

BLINDERS

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Matthew 5:7

            I encounter a lot of Amish buggies when I drive out of town, and their horses always wear what are called “blinders”. These are like leather sunglasses that fasten onto the horse’s head, just to the outside of the animal’s eyes. The purpose of blinders is to block the horse’s peripheral vision, so that cars and other objects that are moving alongside of them won’t startle them as they pull their buggy. It gives the horse vision of only what is straight ahead.

         I have met people who wear blinders, too. They can see only straight ahead. Their own path is all that they care about. If you need their help, want to walk alongside them, or if they consider you somehow beneath them, you are left out of their elite group.

         Mephibosheth—Saul’s grandson and son of Jonathan, friend of David—was crippled and in hiding, for fear that David would hunt him down to kill him. David did hunt him down, but it was to bless him, being the only remaining family member of King Saul. David invited him to spend his remaining days in the palace and eat with him (II Samuel 9:1-13).

         As powerful and as important as David became, he still never lost sight of who he was and how he got there. Everyone was important to him, and he went to great lengths to show mercy to those whom he really did not have to care about, except in the merciful Spirit of his God. That is why God also showed mercy to David during his reign and promised that it would last forever. Praise the Lord for always being concerned about even a sparrow (Matthew 10:29-31), and that no one is ever out of His sight.

Davy L. Troxel

GENERATIONAL CURSES?

visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children…  Ex. 34:7

In recent years there has been some excitement over so-called “generational curses.” This anxiety—often associated with Charismatics (but not limited to them)—is frequently expressed with mystical overtones and related to an unhealthy over-preoccupation with demonology. The basic idea is that due to the sin of a certain ancestor, an explicit formal Divine “curse” has fallen upon all their descendants, with a specific demon being assigned to afflict terrible bondage upon future generations. 

In response to such an extravagant and unnuanced position, let us remind ourselves of the justice of God: “The son will not bear the iniquity of the father…” (Ezek.18:20). The concept of “generational curses” as defined by Deliverance Movement types is crudely superstitious and wildly overstated—we are not inherently “doomed beyond hope” because great-great-granny is said to have told fortunes.

Nonetheless, behind most myths are underlying realities. For example, the concepts of an inherited sin-nature derived from Father Adam (Ps. 51:5) and the imputation of Adam’s sin unto us (Rom. 5:12-21) are Biblically valid.  

The great sobering reality lying beneath the idea of generational curses is the legitimate concept of generational cycles. It is an awesome, terrifying reality that what we do (or fail to do) as individuals within our homes and churches WILL have vastly influential and monumental levels of impact upon others—including our future descendants! The darkest patterns of human behavior—abuse, addiction, immorality—can be generationally recycled over-and-over again, due to ignorance and neglect. Ancient Israel repeatedly ignored God’s warnings concerning idolatry—resulting in sin’s multi-generational contagious transmission and the inevitable fruit of Divine judgment (Jer.32:18). Yet, with repentance, Israel alsoexperienced God’s deliverance (1Sam.12:10-12). The GOOD NEWS: God can rescue US as well, breaking the generational cycles!

Terry L. Reese  

ORDINARY PEOPLE AND AN EXTRAORDINARY GOD

Now it happened, when they entered, he (Samuel)looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the anointed of Yahweh is before Him.” 

1 Samuel 16:6

In 1812, America’s first foreign missionaries set sail for India, Adoniram and Ann Judson. That same year, Commodore Perry defeated an entire British naval squadron on Lake Erie. People in the U.S. knew about Oliver Hazard Perry, but not Adoniram and Ann Judson. When the Judsons ended up in Burma (Myanmar) there was not one known Christian in that land of millions of people. But God knew about them and through them brought hundreds of thousands of souls to the Savior.

So it was with David, son of Jesse. He was a nobody in a nation of God’s people. Even the prophet Samuel didn’t think that David was the Lord’s anointed (1 Samuel 16:6). Samuel had to finally admit that “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.” In the end, God’s choice and wisdom were vindicated as Acts 13:22 reads: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.” God specializes in taking ordinary people and transforming them into catalysts for change in His eternal plan.

So, brethren, do you think that you are a nobody? Stop thinking about yourself and think about the God who transforms people into choice instruments of His eternal purpose to accomplish His good, acceptable and perfect will. On April 12, 1850, at the age of 62, Adoniram Judson died. He had spent 38 years in Burma planting churches. Sometime after his death, a government survey recorded 210,000 Christians; one out of every 58 Burmans! Judson was a nobody. But God transformed him into a force mightier than the spiritual darkness of Burma. You may think that you are simply an ordinary person, but if you, like King David and Adoniram Judson are willing to commit your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, then watch what God will do in and through you.

Ike Graham

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE!

but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct; 1 Peter 1:15

Sorry for picking a verse that’s impossible.  Yet this is a command for us to be holy like God.  For God that means He is sinless, unable to sin, separate from sin and hates sin.  Sinning is one thing that God cannot do because it is contrary to His very nature.  Sin doesn’t cross God’s mind.  He hates it, and we are to hate what God hates.  God doesn’t hate people.  God doesn’t hate things, but we sometimes hate our cars, for example. No, God hates sin, and we have a hard time hating sin.  Sin tends to feel good, it is desirable, fun, convenient or it gets us what we want.  That is at least in the short run, and many of us have trouble thinking past the current moment.  For us to hate sin, we have to make the choice to hate it.  It is a choice contrary to our fallen nature.  It is a declared position in our conscious mind with which there is something deep inside us that doesn’t truly agree.  You’re commanded to make the choice to be holy like God.  Now, we are sinless in Christ who has washed away our sins.  Yet, we still sin.  Because of that thing deep inside us that loves sin, we are very much still able to sin.  But, since God is commanding us to be holy, there must be some level of holiness that He demands out of us.  We need to rise to that level of holiness.  Is there something that you will do today that is not holy?  You must, according to God’s Word, choose to not do that thing.  And, as we choose to not do that thing, we move closer to being as God expects: Holy.

Tom Johnson

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