Christmas 2017: Come To Worship

The Gospel of Matthew is the only book that includes the account of the wise men coming to worship Jesus in Bethlehem and even Matthew does not give us all the details we would like to have.  But the Scriptures are not written to satisfy our curiosity or give us all the details about any given event.  The scriptures are written to tell us about how we can be disciples of Jesus Christ.

Christmas 2017: Why He Came - In His Own Words

Christmas reminds us that Christianity is grounded in history, reported by eyewitnesses and recorded by faithful men guided by God's Holy Spirit.  We know what happened. We know what Jesus said.

There is no shortage of modern secular bloviating about Jesus.  They have endless theories about who he "really" was, what he "really" did and the "real" meaning of his teaching.

It seems there is no theory that is so outlandish that it would not be considered.  About the only thing they will not do is consider what Jesus himself said about his ministry.

An Open Door

In the letter to the church at Philadelphia, the Lord does not have any criticism or correction, only encouragement.  The Lord wants them to stay faithful and keep his word with confidence that he knows about their trials and is cheering them on.

Wake Up Call

It can be very important to be awakened at the right time and for the right reason.  There may be important work to be done. There may be dangers to be avoided. It is possible that sleeping through the alarm could cause all kinds of problems.

In this passage of scripture, the Lord himself comes to the church of Smyrna with an urgent wake up call.  We should all pay close attention to see how it applies to us.