Luke 2

Since this is Christmas week, I wanted to look at Luke 2. Our pastor spoke on it on Sunday and their were some things I didn't know about the Christmas Story.

Bethlehem: the city where David was born, not the City of David. Both Joseph and Mary were descendants of David, so they needed to return there for the census. It was a difficult journey through 70 miles of mountainous terrain.

The manger: "And she gave birth to her firstborn son and she wrapped Him in cloths and laid Him in a manger." v.7 The stable is mentioned no where in scripture and it is only from the mention of a manger that we derive He was born in a stable. It could have also been a cave where animals were protected.

Savior: "...for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord." v.11 This is one of only two places in the gospels where Christ is referred to as Savior.

Prophecy: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name, 'Immanuel." Is 7:14 Immanuel: God with us. =)

Turtle Doves: ...On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me... "...and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, ' A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.' v. 24 At the dedication of a child in the temple they needed to offer a sacrifice of a lamb or doves/pigeons. Mary's offering shows that she and Joseph were poor. Get this, a woman who bore a son was ceremonially unclean for 40 days...if she bore a daughter it was twice that! What's up with that??

Simeon: I didn't believe I hadn't heard this before Sunday. LOL He was in the temple at the dedication of the Child. Get this, "And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." Simeon took the Baby into his arms and blessed God and said, "Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light or revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people of Israel." v. 26, 29-32

Wow!
Blessed Christmas!

Romans 11

In Bible times, it was very common to graft olive trees. A branch from a good olive tree was taken and grafted onto a wild olive tree. The wild olive tree, called agrielaios, did not produce very good fruit. But the good cultivated olive tree, called kallielaios, did produce very good fruit. Wild olive trees would grow up and take up space with it's root system. To keep from having to cut down a tree and plant a new seedling, a branch from the good tree would be grafted onto the wild tree. This good branch would then produce fruit while getting nourishment from the wild tree root system. Several branches would be grafted onto a wild tree.

In Romans 11:17 we read, "But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree..."

God was using the grafting process to make a very important point. Instead of grafting a good branch onto a bad tree, God took a bad branch and grafted it onto a good tree. This was opposite of the way the first century people grafted olive trees. God had a good tree with a good root system. The Israelite nation was the tree with the root system of the patriarchal law, mosaical law, and the new law. The Gentiles were represented by the wild olive tree. God took the wild olive tree, the Gentiles, and grafted them into the good tree and it's root system.
The reference to the branches being broken off means that Jews who did not accept Christ were unacceptable to God. They were cut from the tree. This shows that just because someone has a sincere heart and believes in God does not mean that person will be acceptable to God. A person must believe in and obey Jesus Christ to be acceptable to God.

Only God has the power to graft a wild tree branch onto a good tree and have that branch produce good fruit. I am glad that God is a loving God and wants all men to be saved. I am glad he gave us the Bible so that we can know how to serve Him.
...Taken off the web.

I just wanted to add that in v. 23 it says, "...if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again."
There is always a chance to change your mind and come to Christ.

Romans 10

This short chapter has a few well-known and to-the-point versus. Paul is talking to the Jews who once again were missing what God had planned for them. "All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people." v.21

But for the rest of us, these verses are simple and direct answers to, "How can I be saved?"

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." v. 4

"...that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." v. 9-10

"For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him, for 'Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" v. 12-13

The streamline right to the heart of salvation.

The chapter starts with "...my heart's one desire":

Refiner's fire. My heart's one desire
is to be Holy. Set apart for you my Master,
Ready to do Your will.

Romans 9

"I will have mercy on Whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." v. 15

"O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the Molder, " Why did You make me like this?...Or does not the Potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?" v. 20-21

I spent the last few days reading a sermon given by Charles Spurgeon in 1862 on "God's will and Man's will". If you have a chance to read it, I highly recommend it. He really puts light on the whole predestination arguement and talks about the providence of God clearly. www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0442.htm

Providence: God conceived as the power sustaining and guiding human destiny.

"If we could imagine that one human action had eluded the prescience or the predestination of God, we could suppose that the whole might have done so, and all things might drift to sea, anchorless, rudderless, a sport to every wave, the victim of tempest and hurricane. One leak in the ship of Providence would sink her, one hour in which Omnipotence relaxed its grasp and she would fall to atoms." CH Spurgeon. "He hath not let slip the reins of the great chariot of Providence, and think you that when Christ goeth forth in the chariot of His grace it is with steeds unguided, or driven only by chance, or by the fickle will of man?"

We have no problem believing that God gives us gifts...we do not give ourselves gifts. Likewise with His mercies.

It is much like an eternal circle. Draw a circle: God's will chooses us ------>We choose to love Him and believe -------->We receive salvation and eternity with Him ------->God's will chooses us -------> and so on.... It truly is a mysterious working and not something we should worry about.

"Soul, if thou art anxious after Christ, He is more anxious after thee. If thou hast only on spark of true desire after Him, that spark is a spark from the fire of His love to thee. He has drawn thee, or else thou wouldest never run after Him. If you are saying, 'Come to me, Jesus,' it is because He has come to you, though you do not know it. He has sought you as a lost sheep, and therefore you have sought Him like a returning prodigal. He has swept the house to find you, as the woman swept for the lost piece of money and now you seek Him as a lost child would seek a father's face. Let you willingness to come to Christ be a hopeful sign and symptom." Spurgeon...Wow!

I will leave you with this quote - also from Spurgeon. I love the picture it brings.

"The hen goes clucking about the farm-yard all day long; that is the general call of the gospel; but she sees a hawk up in the sky, and she gives a sharp cry for her little ones to come and hide under her wings; that is the special call; they come and are safe." When danger is lurking, where do you run?

Romans 8: 29-30

"For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified."


This verse is a warm security blanket. Once you are saved, you become one of the firstborn called by God. Back in the day, the firstborn was the only true heir. And also, since the called was predestined, you can not lose your salvation. But the rub, of course, is when do you know YOU (ME) were truly saved. IE: truly called by God to be His elect. Pretty high position to say about yourself, right? But then again, those who are not called, don't know it and don't care. The Bible does say that not all are saved but it is God's desire that everyone come to an intimate relationship with Him. But being omniscience, He knows. It is not up to us what happens to the innocent - babies - or the people "in the jungle" that never have a chance to know who Christ is, or of the Bible. It is already determined.


I was going to get into a whole, Calvinism vs Arminianism", but I'll let you do your own study on that. This is a simple, 5 point chart, that shows the different camps. http://the-highway.com/compare.html

According to Arminianism:
Salvation is accomplished through the combined efforts of God (who takes the initiative) and man (who must respond) - man's response being the determining factor. God has provided salvation for everyone, but His provision becomes effective only for those who, of their own free will, "choose" to cooperate with Him and accept His offer of grace. At the crucial point, man's will plays a decisive role; thus man, not God, determines who will be recipients of the gift of salvation.

According to Calvinism:
Salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of the Triune God. The Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the Holy Spirit makes Christ's death effective by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing them to willingly obey the gospel. The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration) is the work of God and is by grace alone. Thus God, not man, determines who will be the recipients of the gift of salvation.

Romans 8

Romans 8 is a very familiar chapter to me, filled with promises. The first one being:
"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.' v.1

But the explanation for that is in v.2:
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."

The Spirit has replaced the law, the law that only condemned us. The replacement is a new simple law, and that is the law of faith, that will give us life. There is even more explanation if you continue reading into verses 3 and 4.
"He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." v. 8

Praise You, Abba Father!

"...you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ..." v.15-17

Have you ever heard the explanation an adoptive parents gives their child - that the child is even more special than the natural born because he was chosen. Wow. An amazing promise! But the last part of the verse is a reminder:

"...if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."

"Suffer" is a relative term...especially here in America.
....to come to a knowledge of (something) by living through it - see experience

...to feel deep sadness or mental pain - see grieve

I liked both these synonyms, especially the second one. I do grieve that I can not always be faithful to my God or obey or be everything He would like me to be.

"For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eager; we wait eagerly for it." v. 24-25
"My hope is in You, God; My strength is in You Lord; My life is in You, Jesus!"

"In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." ..."He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." v. 26-27
I make use of this verse often, when I just don't know how to pray.

Starting in v. 31 to the end of the chapter, John MacArthur calls, "A hymn of security". I thought that very appropriate. It is a reminder of our security in walking with Christ.

"But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, or any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." v. 37-39

And all God's children say, AMEN!

Romans 7

God never meant for us to be able to keep the laws He gave. He meant them to show us that we are not worthy of holiness; He gave them to humble us, to see that we needed to reach out to Him for help. Reaching for Christ to stay away from sin, not only saves us for eternity but gives us a richer life here on earth. But it is not of our own power, but the power of Christ within us.
"But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter." v.6

"For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law..." v. 5
I thought the word "aroused" was interesting. Our rebellious nature wants to do the very thing we are told not to; restrictions add a desire - almost a need - to do the opposite. Why is that? Well one, it is our nature, our nature that needs God's power. And two, for me, it is (was) almost compulsory for me to rebel against any kind of authority. I never liked feeling "squashed" under someone else's power and spent my young life disobeying and running from authority, authority that had been put in place by God to protect me. IE: my mom, my first husband, my first relationship with Christ, my first bosses, etc. I learned a valuable lesson the hard way. And like a wild horse, I was finally broken and I am the better for it, though I still struggle from time to time.

"Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" v. 24-25
"'Body of this death': Tradition says that an ancient tribe near Tarsus (where Paul is from) tied the corpse of a murder victim to its murderer, allowing its spreading decay to slowly infect and execute the murderer." John MacArthur
Wow, something we should try today? LOL

Praise God for His word and Paul's example:
"For what I am doing I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate...For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want." v. 15-19
We (I) are not alone in our struggle. But greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.

This video below makes me smile! I love this kind of music from the 70's. Fills me with such joy. Check out Johnny Cash - the man in black!