Inspirations from the Funny Farm

John 3:16-17 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Paul Harvey was a well known radio personality, He was born Paul Harvey Aurandt (1918-2009), and that man had a way with words. I remember tuning in to listen to “The Rest of the Story” back in the 1980s. At that time I was working at the Movie Star factory prior to going to college. Paul Harvey’s boisterous voice rang out on the radio shortly after the lunch buzzer rang. He would tell a story and end the broadcast with “and now you know the rest of the story.” It was good, clean radio, and anyone listening could tell that this was a good, godly man. The story I am sharing today is a bit long, but it is a good one. This is a parable shared by Paul Harvey every year for many years. After a little research, I found that the parable was written by Louis Cassels (1922-1974) from South Carolina. You many have heard it, but it is worth a repeat.

The man I’m going to tell you about was not a scrooge, he was a kind decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family and upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn’t believe in all of that incarnation stuff that the churches proclaim at Christmas time. It just didn’t make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus story, about God coming to Earth as a man.

He told his wife I’m truly sorry to distress you, but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas Eve. He said he would feel like a hypocrite and that he would much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. So he stayed and they went to the midnight service.

Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then he went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper.

Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another … and then another. At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against the living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled outside miserably in the snow. They’d been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter they had tried to fly through his large landscape window. That is what had been making the sound.

Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures just lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter. All he would have to do is to direct the birds into the shelter.

Quickly, he put on a coat and galoshes and he tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light so the birds would know the way in. But the birds did not come in.

So, he figured that food would entice them. He hurried back to the house and fetched some bread crumbs. He sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail of bread crumbs to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs.

The birds continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them but could not. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around and waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction … every direction except into the warm lighted barn.

And that’s when he realized they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me. That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Any move he made tended to frighten them and confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.

He thought to himself, if only I could be a bird and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe warm … to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see … and hear … and understand.

At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.

“Now I understand,” he whispered. “Now I see why you had to do it.

The story ended there, but that wasn’t the rest of the story. That man finally understood. He finally understood the true meaning of the Christmas story. He finally understood that Jesus came to earth to mingle with His people and to speak their language. He finally understood that Jesus came to show us the way…the way to be safe in the shelter of the Most High. He finally understood that we are in the dark and lost without Christ! The idea that God became man and walked among us is one of the most profound claims of Christianity. God didn’t have to send Jesus to be born those many years ago, but He wanted us to know Him. Without Christ, we are like those poor, cold, scared birds. Oh but God! God sent His Son into the world as a man – to demonstrate his love for people, to show his intimate understanding of human life and to personally deliver the message of salvation. Because of this remarkable act, we no longer have to be cold or scared or in the dark. The Light came to us! ….and now…you know…the rest of the story!

Matthew 2:9-11 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Everyone was chattering about the Christmas star that appeared in the southwest sky last night. It was supposed to be seen best about 45 minutes after sunset. I was still at work at that time, and we are still seeing any possible COVID patients in the parking lot. I was walking in and out of the building to check on patients while scanning the night sky. I had already asked my husband to get my camera out because I wanted to try to get a good picture of the star. When I arrived home at 7:40, he greeted me at my vehicle, and we drove over to the cow field. Thankfully he had a flashlight to guide our steps so that we would not step in one of the many land mines left behind by the cattle. We looked to the southwest sky, and we found the brightest star, but sadly it was a little too late for a great photo-op. It was still quite surreal. We were standing out in a cow pasture on a cold, dark night, looking up to the heavens trying to find the brightest star. It was a clear, beautiful night, and there were so many beautiful stars in the sky. It was impossible not to reflect on the glory of our God.

A couple thousand years ago, the brightest star ever known to man lit up the western sky. God ordained it, and it was so. Let’s consider the wise men today. We often think of there being only three of them, because only three gifts were mentioned, but technically the Bible doesn’t cite a number. We do know that these men were likely to have been from a certain group of priestly scholars also known as Magi. They studied many things including astronomy and ancient writings. Many scholars believe that they were from the royal courts of Babylonia and Persia. These men knew the ancient writings, and they knew that God would give a sign when the Christ child was born (Isaiah 7:14). They had never seen a star like this one before, and we have never seen one since. It must have been a spectacular site!

When the wise men saw this brighter than life star in the western sky, they knew that it meant something really big had happened, and from their studies of ancient writings, they must have put two and two together and realized that this was the sign sent by God to alert the world of the newborn King. They followed the star to Bethlehem, and they found the Child in a home with His parents. (Note: they weren’t in the stable any longer, so the wise men arrived some time after the shepherds. The lowly guys received the first invitation.) The wise men brought gifts to celebrate the arrival of this newborn King. The gifts were fairly strange, but fitting for this particular King. The first gift was gold which symbolized Kingship on earth. The second gift was frankincense which was an incense that represented the deity of Christ. Lastly, they gifted the King with myrrh. What a weird gift to give a newborn baby. Myrrh was an embalming oil and symbolized the coming death of the King. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never taken gold, incense, or especially embalming oil to a baby shower, but that’s what these guys did. They had studied the scripture. They knew the prophecy, and we can tell this by the gifts that they brought as the gifts symbolized Christ’s Kingship, His deity, and eventually the death that He would endure for our salvation. That’s pretty deep!

The wise men knew the prophecy, and when they saw the guiding light, it led them right to the Christ child. These men were not the only men who knew the prophecy. What about the scribes and priests of the day? What about the religious leaders that knew the law and recited the scripture on a daily basis? They knew of the coming Messiah, yet when this guiding light lit up the night sky, they didn’t go and look for the King. Why do you think that was? Our pastor touched on this a bit in last Sunday’s sermon. I think it is because a lot of people have head knowledge of Christ. They know who He is. They have been to church, they have even studied the Word, and they know all about Christ, but these people do NOT know Christ. They have the head knowledge, but they don’t have heart knowledge. Apparently, the wise men had both! That’s why we call them wise!

The alignment of Jupiter and Saturn last night was a great sight to see, but it was nothing in comparison to that great star of Bethlehem that directed the wise men to Christ. We look up into the sky and search for that guiding light, the star of Bethlehem, and we do not see it. It is no longer there. The Christ child is no longer in a home in Bethlehem. We can’t follow a star in the sky to find Him, but have no fear. We have the Son to guide us now, and that is better than any star. He fills us with the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit guides our paths. When we give Him full reign of our lives, that bright guiding Light within us takes us exactly where we need to go. That guiding Light is within each and every believer in Christ. Do you have the Light within you? Are you letting the true guiding Light lead you today? Are you pointing others to the Light?

We knew about the Christmas star because it was all over the news. We knew to go out and look for it last night. The wise men knew the stars well, and they knew the ancient scriptures. They didn’t have a news team to alert them. They saw this guiding light, and they followed it to the King. When you look up at night and see all of the beautiful stars dancing in the sky, remember that one bright star, and let those stars remind you of Jesus. Let them remind you of the true Light, and point others to the Light. Look for Christ today…if you look for Him, I guarantee you that you will find Him. He is the Light in this dark world! Follow the guiding Light!

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Matthew 1:22-23 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means “God with us”).

I do not know a lot of Hebrew, but there is one word that I know and love. The word is Immanuel. Immanuel literally means “God with us.” When Jesus was born to Mary, He was called Immanuel. He was born into this world fully God and fully man so that God could walk among His people. He came to be with us so that we could have a way to be with the Father eternally. Our sins made it absolutely impossible for us to come to God, so He came to us.

God took an extraordinary step to come to us because He wanted to have a relationship with us. He came as a baby, and grew up as a man so that He could make us right with the Father. He made himself susceptible to all the things that we are susceptible to daily. He felt sorrow. He was tempted, yet He did not falter. He felt the things we felt. He came to over power the claim that sin had on us, and He cancelled that claim. He came to be with us in the flesh. It is an astonishing, amazing, and wonderful thing to consider. God came to be with us in the flesh so that we may be with Him eternally! Wow!

More than 700 years before the birth of Christ, Isaiah the prophet prophesied the coming of the King. He called Him Immanuel. For 700 long years, the people awaited the promised Messiah. Can you imagine the anticipation? It had to be very hard to wait for this special promise. In Matthew, we see the promise fulfilled as the King was born. Immanuel came to earth in the fleshly form to be with us. And now, 2000 years later, we await His promised return. Oh, the anticipation is almost unbearable at times. I can hardly wait!

The name Immanuel points to the nature of the One who bears the name. He is God incarnate – God coming into human flesh – and dwells by His Spirit in the hearts of His people. He always was, is, and always will be with us! The events of 2020 have overwhelmed us. The things that we have seen and witnessed this year have somewhat dimmed the light within us. We can not give in to the anxiety that fills the air as we hear of tragedy after tragedy. We can’t allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with the things of this world. Why? The answer is Immanuel. God is with us. Don’t forget this very wonderful truth. God is still with us! He watches over us daily. He knows exactly what is going on in our lives…even before we do. He fights battles for us that we do not even realize are ongoing. He sends His angels to protect us. He blazes trails for us, and He defends us. He truly is with us.

This Christmas season as the hustle and bustle exhaust you, and you do not know whether you are coming and going, please remember these words…GOD…IS…WITH…YOU! He is ever present, and He is fighting for you! This is promised in 2 Chronicles 32:8, “but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” Again, we see this promise in Nehemiah 4:20, “Our God will fight for us!” One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 41:10, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Don’t you see? God is with us. He is fighting for us. He loves us so much.

God didn’t send His Son to be with us the short 33 years that He walked on earth. God sent His Son to make a path for us to have eternal life with Him. He was always here, and He will always be with us. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:10) As you walk these rough and rocky roads of the present, seek His presence! He is with us! What a glorious feeling it is to know and trust that our loving Savior is with us to the very end…every single step we take…God is with us!

Luke 1:28-34 “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”  Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean.  “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.  He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.  And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”  Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

As we rush into the celebration of Christmas this week, we begin to slow down and ponder the story of the birth of the King. I wrote about Mary a little while back as I pondered the idea of whether or not Mary knew exactly who the Child she was carrying was. Today, I’m pondering the birth story with a little bit different twist. How did a virgin girl give birth to the King of kings? How in the world did this miracle happen? Well, Mary asked this same question herself. The angel answered her question with this response, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.” That’s a good explanation, but wow, still hard to comprehend and understand. But…it happened just as the angel said! Our God can do ANYTHING!

We tend to put God in a little box. We can’t possibly understand His power and authority, so we just put Him in a little box and store Him away on a shelf somewhere. We call Him out of the box when we need Him like He is some kind of genie in a bottle. That is NOT the way it works, my friends. God is BIG. God is HUGE. He is everywhere, all the time. He is all powerful, and He is all knowing. He created us and this entire universe, and He deserves our attention all of the time. He deserves our praise on a daily basis.

Mary didn’t understand how she could conceive this Child, but she accepted the fact and believed that this would happen exactly the way the angel said it would happen. God has always been in the baby miracle business. Isaac was born to Abraham in Sarah in their old age. They were knocking on the door of one hundred. How could an old woman like Sarah give birth to a baby in her old age? How could this happen? …God. What about Samuel? Hannah was barren, and she prayed for a son. She promised to give the child back to God, if He would only bless her with a son. God heard her prayers, and a barren woman gave birth. How could this happen? …God. Then Elizabeth and Zechariah were childless, but they were chosen to be the parents of John the Baptist. They were also up in age, and were well past the age of reproduction. But Gabriel delivered the message to Zechariah that they would bear a son that would announce the Messiah, and it happened just at old Gabriel proclaimed. How could this happen? …God

Don’t you see? God is at work in the lives of His children on a daily basis. He can give a child to a virgin, and he can give a child to a elderly woman. If He can do this, we have to see that there is NOTHING that He can not do. So why then do we tend to put God in a box or on the back burner in our lives? Why don’t we recognize the sovereignty of our God? Consider for a moment the person that you love most in this whole world. How much do you love that person? Take that love and multiple it times infinity. That is how much God loves you. He cares about every single detail in your life. He hears you when you cry. He feels that pain too. He hears you when you are joyful. He rejoices with you. He cares about the things that you care about, and He knows exactly how to meet your needs.

I don’t know what is going on in your life right now, but I’m sure there is a trouble or two on your mind or in your heart. Don’t let those concerns overwhelm you and steal your joy this Christmas season. We wonder how things will work out. We ponder over how things will end. We worry when we can’t see the solution to the problems in life. How can this happen? How will I work this all out? Instead of asking how it will work out and how it can happen, we should be confidently saying, “I can not wait to see how my God is going to work this out!” Or maybe we should declare with confidence, “I’m not sure what you are teaching me through these circumstances, God, but I’m just going to trust you. I know you are in the fire with me, and you are not going to let me get burned!” We have to have faith through the fires in life. We have to recognize that we can’t control what is going on, but God can. He is in control. Everything an and will happen just as He ordains. How can this happen? It can happen because we serve a Holy Father that loves His kids unconditionally and infinitely, and He is actively involved in each of our lives. Let go and let God have control. He will works everything out for our good and His glory…every single time! Let God carry the weight while you wait….

Matthew 1:3a Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar

Matthew 1:5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth.

Matthew 1:6b David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife.

Yesterday, our church lost an iconic figure. Mrs. Roberta Balch left this world to take up residence in her permanent dwelling place in heaven. I bet she is sitting at the feet of Jesus this very moment. I didn’t know Mrs. Roberta extremely well, but I knew her enough to know that she was a godly woman and that she loved the Lord. This was easily noted by looking at the children that she raised. I’ve attended church with her daughters Lila and Bernice. Lila shares scripture daily to friends and family on social media, and Mrs. Bernice sings praises with the voice of an absolute angel. Her son, Donald, preached a sermon at our church recently. Yes, you can tell that Mrs. Roberta was a woman of the Word through the life she lived and the children she raised. She leaves behind a legacy of love for the Lord, strength, and endurance. I know that her family is grieving her loss at this moment, but I know that they have peace knowing she is in the arms of our Savior. What a legacy Mrs. Roberta left behind!

When we study scripture, we seem to remember the male figures of the Bible. This is quite natural because there are so many important male figures discussed in scripture. However, we can’t forget the women of the Word. They were pretty important too. In fact, when Matthew listed the genealogy leading up the birth of Christ, Matthew felt that four women were important enough to list by name (with the exception of Bathsheba…he just called her Uriah’s wife). He called out Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.

Tamar was married to the son of Judah, Er. Er was evil in the Lord’s sight, and He took his life. The responsibility for Tamar to bear a son was left to Judah’s younger son, Onan. He refused to have a child with Tamar, and wasted his seed. The Lord took his life too. Tamar was left childless, and Judah didn’t give his son Shelah to her as promised. It was kind of understandable as it seemed she had caused the death of his two other sons. Tamar decided to take things into her own hands, and she posed as a prostitute and tricked Judah into relations with her. This union produced twins Perez and Zerah. Ironically, out of the bloodline of Perez came David and later Jesus Christ.

Next, Matthew mentions Rahab. Rahab, a prostitute of the Canaanite city of Jericho, is known for helping the Israelites defeat the pagan city of Jericho and for her place in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Rahab’s story begins during the invasion of the city of Jericho by the Israelites. She protected the Israelite spies as they were checking out the city of Jericho, and she was remembered by the Israelites and her family was protected. Ultimately, Rahab married Salmon, an Israelite from the tribe of Judah. Her son was Boaz, the husband of Ruth.

Ruth is mentioned next. I love the redemptive story of Ruth. She lost her husband, but instead of returning to her own people, she followed her mother-in-law, Naomi, to her home family. She caught the attention of Boaz, and he redeemed her and made her his wife. He didn’t have to marry her. There actually was another kinsman who could have redeemed her, but it was like a story of love at first sight. Boaz wanted to marry Ruth, and he ended up taking her as his wife. From this marriage eventually came a descendant, Joseph, who was the earthly, adoptive father of Jesus.

Finally, Matthew mentions Uriah’s wife. I giggle when I read this. He called out by name a woman who pretended to be a prostitute to conceive with Judah, and he called out by name a prostitute, but he doesn’t acknowledge Bathsheba by name. Yes, Bathsheba and David messed up big time. David was strolling on his roof one night, and he looked over and saw a beautiful woman bathing. He decided that he had to have this woman, and he summoned her. Shortly after, he learned that she was pregnant. David tried to cover up his mistake. He decided he would have Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, come home from the battlefield. They could get together, and then all would appear to be okay. However, the plan fell through when Uriah refused to go home while his counterparts continued to risk their life in battle. After two attempts to “reunite” the married couple failed, David sent word to put Uriah on the frontline in the fierce battle so that he might be killed. After Uriah died, David took Bathsheba as his wife. The son that they had conceived out of wedlock died, but then came Solomon who was know as the greatest king ever.

All of these women have something in common. They are grandmothers in the family tree of Jesus. They were not all wonderful examples of godly women. They made mistakes, and their mistakes were recorded for the whole world to read. They had affairs outside of marriage. Two prostituted themselves. They lied. They cheated. They messed up big time, yet God picked them to be part of the greatest story ever told! He chose these four broken women to be part of the lineage of Christ! Each woman left her mark on this world. Each woman left a legacy behind that led to the birth of the King. We may not all feel like we are living the godly life or the example that was set by Mrs. Roberta, but as children of the King, God has given us His name. We are the children of God. He has given us His lineage. We are adopted sons and daughters of the King. Most importantly, He has given us the gift of salvation which has made us right with The Father.

I look back on my own life, and I see the many times that if messed up royally. I’m so very thankful that my biggest life mistakes were not recorded for the entire world to read in the most read and printed book of all time, but even if they were, it wouldn’t matter. All that matters is that I have been made right with the Father. I have been adopted into the family of God. I am His child. He is my Father. I pray that the legacy I am leaving behind reveals that I am a child of God. That’s all that really matters! Be a woman (or man) of the Word! Don’t just read the Word. You have to live it! What kind of legacy are you leaving behind?

Genesis 22:7-8 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

We have been asking this question around our farm lately, “Where are the lambs?” All the sheep are pregnant. They have usually birthed by now. We check everyday, but no babies have arrived as of yet. We were hoping that they would birth earlier in the month in time to be used as sheep for a live nativity, but no, they aren’t in any hurry to arrive this year. Maybe they are waiting for Christmas. Wouldn’t that be something? A barn full of baby lambs being born on the day that we celebrate the birth of the true Lamb of God would be pretty amazing.

I was reflecting back on some very familiar scripture this morning. I’m sure you all remember the story of Abraham and Isaac. God tested Abraham when he told him to take his son Isaac to Moriah and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on the mountain there. God has never asked anyone to sacrifice their son before or since, but Abraham got up early the next morning and loaded up his donkey. He took two servants and his son with him, and he headed off to the place that God had instructed. When he arrived, Abraham and Isaac went up to the appointed place. Isaac carried the wood for the burnt offering, and Abraham carried the fire and the knife. Isaac realizes something was missing, and he asked his father this very specific question, “Where is the lamb?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb.”

I notice a few things when I read this scripture. First of all, when Abraham and Isaac left the servants with the donkey, Abraham told the servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship, and then WE will come back to you.” Abraham knew that God had asked him to sacrifice his son, yet he informed the servants that they would both come back to them. Abraham trusted God. He did exactly as God asked, but he knew that somehow, his son would be coming back with him. Another point to consider was Abraham’s response to Isaac’s question, “God himself will provide the lamb.” Abraham knew that God would provide. He didn’t know how, but he trusted that God would provide, and what an amazing foreshadowing of the events to come was demonstrated on that mountain. God did provide a lamb for the sacrifice at Moriah. A ram was caught in the thicket, and this ram took the place of Isaac. The lamb died instead of the son. The lamb died to save the son.

Fast forward a few hundred years. Isaiah prophesied of the coming Lamb, and 700 years or so later, God fulfilled the prophesy. He sent His son, the perfect Lamb of God. John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan River when he saw Jesus, and he shouted, ““Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” God sent Christ to take away our sins. He was the perfect Lamb, unblemished, without sin, and the Holy Son of God. He sent that perfect Lamb to die so that we may have everlasting life. The perfect Lamb took away the sins of all people. He took our place on that cross. God provided the Lamb that will save us all!

The Lamb is Christ. If you don’t know Him, there is no better day that today to get to know Him. He loves you so much! Don’t keep searching for the Lamb. Invite Him into your heart today! If you’ve invited Him in previously, but you just aren’t feeling His presence lately, maybe it’s time for a heart purge. Get rid of all of the stuff that is keeping you from a close relationship with Christ, and make room for the perfect Lamb of God today!

Luke 1:11-20 While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.” Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.” Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”

There are quite a few unsung heroes in the Bible, and one that is often left out of the Christmas story and the nativity is old Zechariah. Y’all remember him don’t you? He was the husband to Elizabeth. Zechariah and Elizabeth were very righteous in the eyes of the Lord. They were good people. They followed the commands of the Lord, yet they were getting up in age, and they had no children. Surely the towns people gossiped about them. They probably thought that these two upstanding citizens had a deep dark secret that only God knew, and therefore, God was preventing them from receiving the gift of children. You know how the gossip mongers can be. Nonetheless, this childless couple remained faithful to the Lord, and the Lord knows and remembers His faithful children.

Zechariah didn’t have a clue that he was going to be part of the greatest story ever told. He didn’t know that God was preparing the scene for the birth of the Savior. First, God sent His angel Gabriel to announce to Zechariah that he and Elizabeth would be parents. They wouldn’t just be parents of any old John Doe, they were going to parents of John the Baptist! Look at Gabriel’s introduction of the child that was to be born to them: “he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.” Wow! Not only were they going to be blessed with a son in their old age, they were being blessed with the one that would prepare people for the coming of the Lord and turn the rebellious to godly wisdom.

I can only imagine what Zechariah was feeling and thinking. That old fellow didn’t keep his thoughts to himself. He voiced his doubts out loud as I’ve tended to do from time to time. That verbalized doubt must have stung Gabriel for Gabriel had to remind Zechariah of just who he was. He quickly let Zechariah know his name, that he stood in the very presence of God, and that God sent him to personally deliver this good news to Zechariah. Gabriel was an important angel, and apparently Zechariah didn’t know it. Remember where Gabriel was going next? He would soon be stopping by to visit a virgin by the name of Mary to announce her pregnancy and impending delivery of the King of kings. Yes, Gabriel was important, and old Zechariah didn’t give him his due respect so Gabriel silenced Zechariah. He informed him that he would not be able to speak until the child was born because he did not believe what he had told him.

Zechariah returned home, and just as Gabriel announced, Elizabeth became pregnant. They didn’t tell anyone for five months. (Zechariah couldn’t speak anyway.) They kept the pregnancy to themselves until Mary went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, and the baby leapt in the presence of the Mary who was carrying the Christ child. “At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Luke 1:41) Nine months after Gabriel’s announcement in the temple, Elizabeth gave birth to a baby boy. The people wanted them to name the child Zechariah after his father, but Elizabeth told them that his name would be John. Zechariah asked for a tablet, and he wrote the name John on the tablet, and immediately, he was able to speak again.

Zechariah was silenced for nine whole months. He wasn’t able to speak for nine…long…months. We must remember that those nine months were months that were leading up to the birth of Christ. I bet Zechariah didn’t see it as a blessing at the time, but wow, what a blessing it was. God gave this man nine months to quietly reflect on the events that were about to happen, events that would change the world forever. Zechariah and his wife were birthing John the Baptist, a mighty disciple for Christ. He baptized many in the name of the Savior, and he even baptized Jesus. Shortly after the birth of John, the King of kings and Lord of lords was born. Zechariah was given nine whole months to quietly reflect on these glorious events.

Here we all sit, some 2000 plus years later, on the verge of celebrating that great birthday of the King. Are we quietly reflecting on this wondrous event? Are we recognizing the glory of it all? Are we silently remembering that silent night long ago, that night when the Baby was born that would change the world? I am willing to bet that most of us aren’t having too many silent days. I know that I’m not. I’ve been working harder than ever recently, and I am exhausted at the end of each day…BUT there is always time for quiet reflection. I challenge you to find some time to be silent this season. Spend some time with the Savior each and every day. Give Him more than five minutes here and there. He deserves your time and your presence. Don’t make Him send Gabriel down here to Ssshhh you! After all, His presence was the greatest present ever given to this world! Christ deserves our praise and honor every minute of everyday!

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

There was young boy selling newspapers on a very cold day in a large city. The temperatures had dropped. It was bitterly cold out. It was so cold that when the boy came upon a police officer, he asked, “Do you know where a cold boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight?” The policeman looked at him, and then said, “Go down the street to the big white house, and knock on the door. When someone answers, say ‘John 3:16’.” So the boy did as he was instructed, and knocked on the door. When the door opened, he said, “John 3:16,” and he was immediately invited in. He sat there and thought to himself, “I don’t understand this John 3:16, but it sure makes a cold boy warm.” Later, the lady of the house prepared a hot meal for the boy. As he ate, he thought, “I don’t understand this John 3:16, but it sure makes a hungry boy full.” After filling his tummy, the lady took him up to a huge bathroom with a big tub. The boy recalled that this was the first real bath he had ever had in his life, and he thought, “I don’t understand this John 3:16, but it sure makes a dirty boy clean.” After the bath, the lady took the boy to a nice bedroom with a big feather bed, and she tucked him in and kissed him good night, and the boy thought, “I don’t understand this John 3:16, but it sure makes a tired boy rested.” The next morning, the lady asked if he understood John 3:16. The boy confessed that he had never even heard of it until the night before. The lady sat down with her worn bible, opened it to John 3:16, and explained the scripture to him. He accepted Christ into his heart that very day.

Now, I don’t know if this is a true story or not, and I can’t give credit to the original author as I can not find out who wrote it, but I definitely think it is a story worth repeating. John 3:16 is probably one of the most memorized and recited verses in the Bible, but do we understand it? Sometimes, you must go back to thinking like a child to really understand something so very complicated. We could never truly understand how God could send His only son to die for you and for me. How could God do that? How could He love us that much? When I look back on my life, and I think about all of the times that I have royally messed up, I have to wonder how could God send His son to die for me? The thought of it brings me to tears when I think of the suffering that Christ did on the cross so that this goofball could be forgiven of all of my sins and mistakes in order to make me right with God. I’ll never understand how He could love me that much. That kind of love is absolutely incomprehensible.

But God…oh, but God, He loves us. He loves us no matter what out past looks like. He makes a cold boy warm. The very thought of the love that Christ shows for us is enough to warm the coldest heart. That love can melt the iciest of hearts, and it can even turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. Yes, that love makes a cold heart warm. The love of Christ also fills us up when we are feeling empty. When we receive Christ as our Savior, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We are filled with joy, love, and peace that transcends all understanding. The love of Christ certainly makes a hungry person feel full. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, He washes away all of our sins. The blood of Christ ran red so that we might be made as white as snow. He wipes the slate clean. No matter how dirty we are at the moment we come to Him, He washes away all of the filth and grime of our past life, and cleans us up and makes us new. Yes, the love of Christ makes a dirty person clean. When we have Christ, we don’t have to worry and fret and wear ourselves down the way we tend to be in the habit of doing. Jesus tells us to take His yoke upon us and we will find rest for our souls. Resting in Christ is definitely the best place to rest. I had a rather tough day Monday. It was a typically busy day, but in addition to the heavy workload, I received sad news after sad news. I learned of a death of a friend, made a diagnosis of cancer in a child, and by the end of the day, I felt defeated. As I lay in bed that night, I began my nightly prayers with my eyes hot with tears. I fell asleep praying in the arms of my Lord. You want to know something? When you fall asleep in the arms of the Savior, you wake up the next morning in the arms of the Savior, and there is no place on earth I would rather be!

Yes, I may not completely understand John 3:16 either. I will never understand how God could love a lowly sinner like me enough to give His Son to die for me, but I am so thankful that He did. John 3:16: I don’t understand it, but I believe it with every ounce of my being! I thank God that He loves me despite myself!

Luke 2:8-12 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 the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 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 Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

In our modern society, to announce the birth of a baby, birth announcements are sent in the mail or posted on social media to proclaim the good news of the birth to our friends and family and to those that are important to us, and the ones we love the most. When we have some good news to share, we can’t keep it all inside. But what if we have the most important good news in the world? Who would we share it with? Would we notify the president, the governor, or the city mayor? Would we call the news stations? Would we look for people in power to share this great news? Well, the absolute greatest news was the announcement of the arrival of the long awaited and prophesied Messiah. The religious leaders knew He was coming. They knew the Word. They knew the prophesies. Wouldn’t it make since to tell them first? If you remember, Jesus didn’t think too highly of these religious leaders. Yes, they knew the law, but the didn’t really know the Lord. If they were notified first, they may have acted smugly. The response may have been one of, “we told you so. We knew this would happen.” Or perhaps, they would have kept the good news under their hats not wanting to share it with the rest of the “undeserving people.” It is a possibility.

But our God chose to announce the birth of the Savior to the most lowly of society. Hey, shepherds were pretty grungy folks, y’all. They didn’t have a nice warm home to come back to every night like I do after feeding and tending my sheep. There wasn’t a luxurious shower awaiting them at the end of a long day. Nope, they didn’t have those simple pleasures. The shepherds of the biblical days took care of the sheep. They lived with the sheep. They slept with the sheep. I don’t know if you have had very much experience with sheep, but I’m here to tell you that sheep don’t smell like lavender and rosebuds. Those boogers are kind of stinky. I’m thinking if a person was to spend day and night with the sheep week after week, that person would be pretty smelly. Shepherds that tended the flocks were poor. They were not respected by society. But they did have an important job. They were tending those sacrificial lambs out in the fields near Bethlehem. They were protecting the sheep and keeping them safe. They had a job to do and like it or not, they did it.

God sent a herald of angels to tell these smelly, disrespected shepherds the greatest news that had been long awaited. He picked them: the lowliest in society, the ones that cared for the lambs. Oh, there is so much that we can read into this. Consider it for a moment. It is almost a foreshadowing of Christ’s great love for each of us. We may get all pumped up and think we are something special from time to time, or we may feel very low and insignificant. We may be dirty and soiled with sin. NONE of that matters to Christ. The good news is available to each and every one of us no matter who or what kind of person we are. Christ came for you, and He came for me! He wants every single one of us to know the Good News. The gift of everlasting life is not just for the important members and leaders of society. The Good News is for everyone…the lowest to the highest!

If you read a little further in this chapter of Luke you will see in verse 20, “The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.” I think perhaps this is another reason God chose to tell the shepherds first. They were afraid when the heavenly host of angels showed up in their field to announce the birth of Christ. They were probably shaking in their sandaled feet, but as soon as they got themselves together, they obeyed the angels and went straight to Bethlehem to see the Messiah. Wow, how awesome that must have been! The shepherds were the first known visitors to the King! But they didn’t wrap up this Good News nicely, put a big bow on it, and place it under a tree somewhere. No! They left after seeing the newborn King and glorified and praised God for what they had heard and what they had seen. They shared the Good News. They probably were bursting with excitement and couldn’t wait to tell every single person they came in contact with about the Savior! How could they not?

We could delve even further into the similes here. Christ is known as the good Shepherd, and He was also the unblemished Lamb of God. I don’t know all the reasons that God chose the lowly shepherds to announce the greatest event in history, but He chose them. I’m so thankful that this wonderful news is available to each and everyone of us. We don’t have to reach a certain status in life. We don’t have to clean ourselves up first. We don’t have to be wealthy or powerful. We can come right to the Savior, right now, just as we are. He’ll clean us up from the inside out. All we have to do is hear the Good News, receive the message, and act on it. And when we are filled the the Holy Spirit, we can’t help but do just as those shepherds did all those years ago. We can’t help but praise His name and glorify Him, and tell everyone the Good News! I pray you know the Savior today. If you don’t, there is no reason to wait any longer. He doesn’t care that you’re “not good enough.” We will never be good enough. He wants a relationship with you today. Just as you are!

Daniel 3: 24-25 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”  He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Our little country church was somehow gifted with a truly wonderful pastor. Bro. Shane is a true man of God, and he preaches with a passion for saving lost souls and at the same time works hard shepherding the flock. We have learned so much from his sermons. Yesterday was a perfect example of it. I have heard the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego since my early childhood days, but I had never really thought about it as a Christmas message. I learned that it is actually a Christmas story, and in fact, Christmas came early for these three Jewish teenagers.

Y’all remember the story. It’s very familiar. King Nebuchadnezzar decided that all of the people must bow down and worship his gods and his giant statue every time they heard music play. There were people in the administration that didn’t like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and they made sure that the king was aware that they were not following the decree to worship the king’s gods and statue. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to follow the culture of the people around them. They stood strong in their faith in the one true God. The king called the teenagers before his throne, and he gave them a chance to change their minds and follow his decree. But they stood firm in their faith even when their lives were in danger. They stood firm. The young men informed the king that their God would rescue them, and even if He didn’t, they would not worship his gods or bow to his statue.

The king was infuriated, and commanded that the fire be heated to seven times hotter than usual. He had the teens bound and thrown into the fire. The fire was so hot that the men throwing them into the fire died instantly. But God! Oh but God! Don’t you just love that phrase? King Nebuchadnezzar noticed that the three young men were walking around seemingly unharmed in the fire, but they were NOT ALONE. There was a fourth figure in the fire, and even the king recognized that the fourth person looked like a son of the gods. The king ordered that the teens be removed from the fire, and they came out without so much as a hair on their heads singed. They didn’t even smell like smoke! They were not alone in that fire. Jesus was there with them. Wait a minute…Daniel is part of the Old Testament. That was before Jesus was born, right? That was before the Christmas story. That was before the nativity, quite a few years in fact. We have to remember that Jesus didn’t just evolve when He was born as the baby in Bethlehem. He has always existed, and He is intertwined throughout the entire Bible, including the Old Testament. It is true, Christ appears in every book of the Bible. Sometimes He is spoken of in words, sometimes in shadows, and sometimes in prophecy, but He is revealed throughout the scripture from Genesis through Revelation.

Yes, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were able to experience the gift of Christmas early. Christ came to them while they were in the fire. Those young men didn’t turn their backs on God, and He didn’t abandon them when they needed Him most. He stood with them in the fire, and He rescued them just as He rescues us. We may not be in a literal fire, but as Christians we are going to find ourselves in hot spots from time to time. The world wants us to be like them. Non-believers don’t like that we are different from the world. They don’t like that we are filled with joy because of our faith, and they want to steal that joy. They want to ostracize us, isolate us, and make us feel alone. Paul told us that we would suffer, but that we should count it all joy! We have so many reasons to be joyful.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego experienced Christ coming to them in the fire. Later, that same Christ that rescued those young Jewish boys came to rescue you and I. Christmas came for us too, and it came right on time! Christ came for you, and He came for me! And because He came, we never have to worry about being alone. Nothing or no one can steal our joy, and we have so much to celebrate! No matter how hot the fires seem to be that you are facing, you are not facing the fire alone! Christ is with you. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and He will never leave you!