Adoration 20

“We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”;  “It is for freedom that Christ set us free…”;  “…one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”;  “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice.” 

II Corinthians 5:20, Galatians 5:1, Ephesians 4:6, Philippians 4:4

Christmas is about being free to be ourselves.  We are most like our true selves when we are loving God and loving others.  That “loving” is God’s appeal made through us and what we are set free to do.  It solves all our problems from Ferguson to immigration, abortion to ecology, relations with Cuba to relations with our neighbor.  But loving’s greatest manifestation in us is that we rejoice in Him who made us this free, The Lord, The New Born King.

God I am grateful for Your freedom and rejoice today!

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Adoration 19

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…”;  “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”;  “Now I (Paul) exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…that there be no division among you.”  Acts 1:8, Romans 5:1, I Corinthians 1:10

Christmas brings the ability for us to have peace with God and peace with our fellow human beings through the power of the Holy Spirit.  The reason the world is filled with war and violence is because unredeemed hearts are filled with war and violence.  One of the greatest gifts of salvation is a miraculous peace with God and with humans.

God I am grateful for Your peace.

Adoration 18

“And Jesus said…For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”;  “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” 

Luke 19:9-10, John 20:30-31

Christmas is about the greatest Rescue Mission every recorded in human history.  It is not as if some of us have gone astray we are all astray, every human being is lost and stumbling toward death.  God’s Rescue Mission is to seek us, save us and give us life, every last one of us, the entire human race.  Surely the last words God said to His Son on March 25, 0000 were, “Bring em home Son.”

God I am grateful we get to sing, “coming home, coming home, never more to roam, open wide Thine arms of love, Lord I’m coming home.”

Adoration 17

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill”;  “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” 

Matthew 5:17, Mark 10:45

Christmas concludes the Old Testimony.  The Old Testimony was the laying out of a single theme; God desires a personal relationship with every human being. The Old Testament begins with humans in intimate personal relationship with God and ends with humans in exile, completely lost and separated from God.  The New Testimony is that God settles the Old Testimony by fulfilling its requirements in His Son, the Servant Ransom for every human. 

God I am grateful for Your New Testimony, “Lee your ransom was too much but because I love you I have bought you back!”

Adoration 16

“For behold the day is coming, burning like a furnace…But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.”  Malachi 4:1-2

Christmas is the coming of the great division; The New Testament.  Eventually every human will be placed in one of two camps, the wheat or the tares.  Matthew 13:24-30.  Christmas is humanity's last chance.  It is God’s Healing Balm of Gilead, the Rising of Righteousness flying over our cleansed doorposts on Passover Wings.  The serenity of forgiveness is like sunrise over our darkest night. 

God I am grateful for the coming Son Rise of the New Testament.