PRAYER: Father, thank you for revealing yourself to the whole world through Jesus. We gladly give you much joy when we worship you and give you our gold and incense (our offerings and prayers). We love you so much. Amen.

 

 

God must be so pleased when He looks down on the world today. Why? Because there are more people coming to Him today than in any other period of history. In many countries of the world the Christian faith is spreading rapidly. It is the fastest growing religion in the world. This must truly make God’s heart throb with joy.

 

Today’s Psalm was written hundreds of years before the Magi visited the infant Jesus and long before the spread of Christ’s religion to every nation. In it the Holy Spirit shows what God was going to do.

Jesus rules everywhere as the prophet said He would. As the Kings of the East brought presents to Jesus and lay prostrate before Him, I wonder if they realized the tremendous effect the rule of Jesus would have on the whole world? I believe they did. As they lay before this tiny child and worshipped and adored Him, I believe God showed them what a tremendous, fantastic person they were paying homage to! What they didn’t realise, no doubt, was what a different sort of King Jesus would be. While all other kings conquered nations and ruled empires, this king was to conquer in every nation - not geographical territory but in human hearts.

Each conquered heart was to bring justice and love and fairness to all. Godless society is cruel to the poor and helpless. God-conquered men and women have pity for the weak and save the lives of the poor. This makes God so happy.

 

 

Paul was made a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Jesus captured him for a special purpose. His great task was to go out and spread the good news of Jesus to the gentile world that is to all who were not Jews. Paul was a very effective missionary. By the time he gave up his life as a martyr for Jesus, thousands of gentiles had joined the Christian church. Paul was not one of Jesus’ disciples. In fact, when we first encounter him in the Acts of the Apostles, he is an enemy of the disciples, doing all in his power to get rid of them! How did such a staunch enemy of Jesus become such a powerful apostle?   The answer is easy - because Jesus revealed Himself to him on the Damascus road. How did Paul get converted? How did he find out about Jesus? He heard about Jesus when he heard Stephen the deacon preaching. He was so annoyed by the message that he consented to Stephen’s death. But when he saw the way Stephen reacted when he was stoned, I believe, he was deeply moved. Instead of being angry, Stephen was ever so loving to his executioners. Paul heard him praying for them, asking God to forgive them, as he was being hit by the stones they hurled. This had a deep effect on Paul’s life. Although he didn’t realize it, he saw Jesus in Stephen. No doubt he couldn’t get this whole episode out of his mind. Gradually his heart was opening up to Jesus. When he had the experience of blinding flashing lights and Jesus spoke to him, he was ready to receive Him and had a glorious experience of God’s grace which completely changed his life.

Some people are extremely blessed to have fabulous, spectacular experiences of conversion.  Saul of Tarsus was one of these. He had one of the most dramatic conversions of all times. Why was Saul singled out? Because God wanted to use him to pour out his grace, His powerful love and His saving power on lots and lots of people. We could not count all the lives that have been brought to have faith in Jesus as a result of Paul’s ministry. There were thousands in the many churches that he founded, but there are millions and millions of lives that have been touched by reading Paul’s wonderful letters. His writings helped me to receive a born-again experience and go on helping me as I read them often.

Christian conversion is a mystery revealed. It happens when God reveals Himself to people.   It’s hard to talk about and explain, but once Jesus has revealed Himself to you, you really do know Him in a fantastic new way. Conversion is involved because when you know Jesus your whole life is transformed. We are all ‘convertible’! Jesus loves every one of us. He especially has a soft spot for sinners and hopeless cases.

All we have to do is hear about Jesus, want to have a relationship with Him and be willing to turn away from sin and all that breaks our relationships. We cannot save ourselves or convert ourselves. We can’t make ourselves good enough for Jesus. All we can do is to totally surrender our lives to Him and put all our faith and trust in Him.

 

 

The wise men were led to Jesus when they saw the star in the sky. It was a bright star, brighter than any others they had ever seen. When they saw the star they were overwhelmed with joy.

 

Today let us think of all the stars (things) that bring us joy that lead us to Jesus. All stars that lead people to Jesus today are people.

Whenever we see the light of God’s glory shining in the lives of people, they light up as stars beckoning us to Jesus. My daughter, Helena, was a bright shining star (she still is) to a couple of ladies who were looking after school children in the lunch hour in an English school. They saw Helena take off her warm coat and put it on a little girl who was shivering with cold. This bright shining star brought them back to church!

 

Once I was at a conference where the Aboriginal Bishop, Arthur Malcolm, and his wife were speakers. I actually saw a light like a halo shining from Colleen as she spoke.   She was a bright star drawing lots of aboriginal people to Jesus.

 

We are all called to be stars as we begin this new year. May the light of Jesus shine so very, very brightly on us that it may be reflected for the whole world to see and be drawn to Jesus.

 

 

When the wise men saw Jesus, they bowed down and worshipped him. They were so pleased that they had been included in those who would come to worship Jesus as King, God and Saviour.

 

The gifts symbolize the three very important aspects of Jesus’ character. Gold was given to Jesus because He was a king: King of the whole universe, supreme ruler of all other kings. As King, Jesus leads the lives of all those who have accepted His Lordship into a fantastic life of love, joy, peace, justice, mercy, forgiveness and everything nice!

 

Frankincense was given to Jesus because He is God. The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus is God. He is the exact likeness of His father, He was with God from the very beginning and through Him everything was made and is held together. We follow the example of the wise men and worship Jesus as our God.

Myrrh symbolizes that Jesus is our Saviour and that we are saved through His suffering. Myrrh was an embalming ointment. It was to be kept and used by those who put Jesus’ body in the tomb thirty-three years later. Jesus was born to die. He died to pay the punishment for our sins.   He paid the price for us on the cross. He made it possible for His grace to work in us and bring us to conversion. His death so cleansed us that it made it possible for Jesus to live in our hearts.

 

 

Next Wednesday is the twelfth day of Christmas, the Feast of the Epiphany, we are celebrating it today

The word ‘epiphany’ means ‘showing forth’. The theme of the celebration is God showing his son’s birth to the non Jewish   world.

Up until the time when Jesus came , God had only revealed himself to the Jewish people. He had spoken to Abraham, Moses and a lot of prophets. The whole Old Testament contains all that God had shown the Jews. All that was known about God was shown them by the Holy Spirit

Originally God wanted the Israelites to be a light to the whole world, but sadly they kept

All the wonderful truths of God’s revelations to themselves that is why God sent His Son

Jesus into the world. Jesus said, “I am the light of the World”

As soon as Jesus was born God prepared to let the whole world know that He was for

For them all

.He spoke to wise men from the east. He showed them a special star as a sign that a savior king had been born. He showed them three special truths about the new born king.  We can tell they knew these truths by the gifts they brought to Jesus.

Father, thank you very much for revelaing to the wise men that you sent Jesus to save the whole world. Help us all to be like bright stars shining the love of Jesus into other peoples’ lives and drawing them to see Jesus and be wise enough to follow Him for the rest of their lives

PRAYER: Father, thank you for revealing yourself to the whole world through Jesus. We gladly give you much joy when we worship you and give you our gold and incense (our offerings and prayers). We love you so much. Amen.

 

 

God must be so pleased when He looks down on the world today. Why? Because there are more people coming to Him today than in any other period of history. In many countries of the world the Christian faith is spreading rapidly. It is the fastest growing religion in the world. This must truly make God’s heart throb with joy.

 

Today’s Psalm was written hundreds of years before the Magi visited the infant Jesus and long before the spread of Christ’s religion to every nation. In it the Holy Spirit shows what God was going to do.

Jesus rules everywhere as the prophet said He would. As the Kings of the East brought presents to Jesus and lay prostrate before Him, I wonder if they realized the tremendous effect the rule of Jesus would have on the whole world? I believe they did. As they lay before this tiny child and worshipped and adored Him, I believe God showed them what a tremendous, fantastic person they were paying homage to! What they didn’t realise, no doubt, was what a different sort of King Jesus would be. While all other kings conquered nations and ruled empires, this king was to conquer in every nation - not geographical territory but in human hearts.

Each conquered heart was to bring justice and love and fairness to all. Godless society is cruel to the poor and helpless. God-conquered men and women have pity for the weak and save the lives of the poor. This makes God so happy.

 

 

Paul was made a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Jesus captured him for a special purpose. His great task was to go out and spread the good news of Jesus to the gentile world that is to all who were not Jews. Paul was a very effective missionary. By the time he gave up his life as a martyr for Jesus, thousands of gentiles had joined the Christian church. Paul was not one of Jesus’ disciples. In fact, when we first encounter him in the Acts of the Apostles, he is an enemy of the disciples, doing all in his power to get rid of them! How did such a staunch enemy of Jesus become such a powerful apostle?   The answer is easy - because Jesus revealed Himself to him on the Damascus road. How did Paul get converted? How did he find out about Jesus? He heard about Jesus when he heard Stephen the deacon preaching. He was so annoyed by the message that he consented to Stephen’s death. But when he saw the way Stephen reacted when he was stoned, I believe, he was deeply moved. Instead of being angry, Stephen was ever so loving to his executioners. Paul heard him praying for them, asking God to forgive them, as he was being hit by the stones they hurled. This had a deep effect on Paul’s life. Although he didn’t realize it, he saw Jesus in Stephen. No doubt he couldn’t get this whole episode out of his mind. Gradually his heart was opening up to Jesus. When he had the experience of blinding flashing lights and Jesus spoke to him, he was ready to receive Him and had a glorious experience of God’s grace which completely changed his life.

Some people are extremely blessed to have fabulous, spectacular experiences of conversion.  Saul of Tarsus was one of these. He had one of the most dramatic conversions of all times. Why was Saul singled out? Because God wanted to use him to pour out his grace, His powerful love and His saving power on lots and lots of people. We could not count all the lives that have been brought to have faith in Jesus as a result of Paul’s ministry. There were thousands in the many churches that he founded, but there are millions and millions of lives that have been touched by reading Paul’s wonderful letters. His writings helped me to receive a born-again experience and go on helping me as I read them often.

Christian conversion is a mystery revealed. It happens when God reveals Himself to people.   It’s hard to talk about and explain, but once Jesus has revealed Himself to you, you really do know Him in a fantastic new way. Conversion is involved because when you know Jesus your whole life is transformed. We are all ‘convertible’! Jesus loves every one of us. He especially has a soft spot for sinners and hopeless cases.

All we have to do is hear about Jesus, want to have a relationship with Him and be willing to turn away from sin and all that breaks our relationships. We cannot save ourselves or convert ourselves. We can’t make ourselves good enough for Jesus. All we can do is to totally surrender our lives to Him and put all our faith and trust in Him.

 

 

The wise men were led to Jesus when they saw the star in the sky. It was a bright star, brighter than any others they had ever seen. When they saw the star they were overwhelmed with joy.

 

Today let us think of all the stars (things) that bring us joy that lead us to Jesus. All stars that lead people to Jesus today are people.

Whenever we see the light of God’s glory shining in the lives of people, they light up as stars beckoning us to Jesus. My daughter, Helena, was a bright shining star (she still is) to a couple of ladies who were looking after school children in the lunch hour in an English school. They saw Helena take off her warm coat and put it on a little girl who was shivering with cold. This bright shining star brought them back to church!

 

Once I was at a conference where the Aboriginal Bishop, Arthur Malcolm, and his wife were speakers. I actually saw a light like a halo shining from Colleen as she spoke.   She was a bright star drawing lots of aboriginal people to Jesus.

 

We are all called to be stars as we begin this new year. May the light of Jesus shine so very, very brightly on us that it may be reflected for the whole world to see and be drawn to Jesus.

 

 

When the wise men saw Jesus, they bowed down and worshipped him. They were so pleased that they had been included in those who would come to worship Jesus as King, God and Saviour.

 

The gifts symbolize the three very important aspects of Jesus’ character. Gold was given to Jesus because He was a king: King of the whole universe, supreme ruler of all other kings. As King, Jesus leads the lives of all those who have accepted His Lordship into a fantastic life of love, joy, peace, justice, mercy, forgiveness and everything nice!

 

Frankincense was given to Jesus because He is God. The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus is God. He is the exact likeness of His father, He was with God from the very beginning and through Him everything was made and is held together. We follow the example of the wise men and worship Jesus as our God.

Myrrh symbolizes that Jesus is our Saviour and that we are saved through His suffering. Myrrh was an embalming ointment. It was to be kept and used by those who put Jesus’ body in the tomb thirty-three years later. Jesus was born to die. He died to pay the punishment for our sins.   He paid the price for us on the cross. He made it possible for His grace to work in us and bring us to conversion. His death so cleansed us that it made it possible for Jesus to live in our hearts.

 

 

Next Wednesday is the twelfth day of Christmas, the Feast of the Epiphany, we are celebrating it today

The word ‘epiphany’ means ‘showing forth’. The theme of the celebration is God showing his son’s birth to the non Jewish   world.

Up until the time when Jesus came , God had only revealed himself to the Jewish people. He had spoken to Abraham, Moses and a lot of prophets. The whole Old Testament contains all that God had shown the Jews. All that was known about God was shown them by the Holy Spirit

Originally God wanted the Israelites to be a light to the whole world, but sadly they kept

All the wonderful truths of God’s revelations to themselves that is why God sent His Son

Jesus into the world. Jesus said, “I am the light of the World”

As soon as Jesus was born God prepared to let the whole world know that He was for

For them all

.He spoke to wise men from the east. He showed them a special star as a sign that a savior king had been born. He showed them three special truths about the new born king.  We can tell they knew these truths by the gifts they brought to Jesus.

Father, thank you very much for revelaing to the wise men that you sent Jesus to save the whole world. Help us all to be like bright stars shining the love of Jesus into other peoples’ lives and drawing them to see Jesus and be wise enough to follow Him for the rest of their lives